Vegas Golden Knights Report Card: Colin Miller

Colin Miller began 2018-19 as one of the top blueliners for the Vegas Golden Knights but he finished the year having potentially skated in his last game for the franchise.

Colin Miller: Grade C-

Our focus shifts to Colin Miller today as we continue with our 2018-19 Report Cards for the Vegas Golden Knights. It was a strange year for the defenseman who faces an uncertain future in Sin City…

His season

Colin Miller has established himself as a top-four offensive defenseman for the Golden Knights ever since coming over from the Boston Bruins in the 2017 NHL Expansion Draft.

A very useful weapon on the power play and able to produce plenty of offensive production, Miller was a cornerstone piece of the team that went all the way to the 2017-18 Stanley Cup Final in the franchise’s inaugural year.

However, this year was a tough one for the 26-year-old who was a shadow of his former self having endured his fair share of peaks and valleys in 2018-19.

Suffering a dip in production from an offensive standpoint in addition to struggling in his own zone on occasion, Miller found himself a healthy scratch down the stretch and even during the postseason.

He did rebound later in the First Round series against the San Jose Sharks, but there is now speculation that the right-shot could be traded away this offseason.

We’ll touch on that in more detail later but, for now, let’s delve into Miller’s stats in both the offensive and defensive zones for 2018-19.

As already mentioned, Miller is known for his offensive prowess and you will never label the former Bruin as a stay-at-home defenseman.

He contributed 10 goals and 31 assists for 41 points in 82 regular season games in 2017-18, along with seven points (three goals, four assists) in the playoffs, compared to just three goals and 26 assists for 29 points in 65 regular season games this year and three points (one goal, two assists) during the postseason.

Miller’s production on the power play also dropped off significantly with just 13 points (one goal, 12 assists) on the man advantage in 2018-19 compared to 17 points (five goals, 12 assists) last year. However, he still led all Vegas defensemen in points on the power play.

Consider this; Miller had a high-danger scoring chances percentage of 80.77 this year, the lowest of any Golden Knights player to have taken the ice on the power play in 2018.19, which perhaps best sums up Miller’s down year on the man advantage.

Now let’s look at the defensive aspect. Miller will never be regarded as a defensive stalwart, he’s far more offensively minded and he’s been known to suffer from the odd lapse or two in his own zone.

He had 46 giveaways this year, ten off from equalling a career-high, in addition to 64 blocked shots, 122 hits and 22 takeaways.

Miller also racked up 44 penalty minutes and his 46 penalties in his two years with the Golden Knights is nearly double the amount Ryan Reaves (24) has accumulated for the franchise. That is an incredible stat in itself.

The 26-year-old logged an average of 19:39 minutes of ice time a night in 2018-19, eclipsing the 19:21 he collected the previous year, proving that Miller is still a valuable asset for this franchise.

He wasn’t relied upon as much in the postseason, however, logging on average just 18:39 minutes of ice time a game after being a healthy scratch for Game 1 of the series against the San Jose Sharks.

Miller did bounce back emphatically with a goal against the Sharks in Game 2, and he went on to play for the remainder of that series.

All in all, Miller was nowhere near awful in 2017-18 but he wasn’t playing anywhere near the peak of his powers, either.

He will never be a defensive force in shutdown situations against other teams’ top lines, but he can generate offense on the power play and is an ace when it comes to leading the rush and transitioning out of the zone.

Why the grade

Miller, like a few players around him, suffered a drop in both performance and production in 2018-19 compared to his sublime play in Vegas’ inaugural year in the NHL.

He wasn’t as effective from an offense standpoint and there are plenty of wrinkles in his game when it comes to his play in the defensive zone.

The fact he was a healthy scratch during both the regular season and in the playoffs paints the perfect picture of some of the struggles he endured this year.

He did bounce back after a setback, however, and although he wasn’t as potent a weapon on the power play compared to 2017-18, his 13 points is still nothing to be sniffed at.

Miller is a proven top-four defenseman in the NHL and, at 26-years-old, he’s still got his peak years to come so 2019-20 could be a strong year for the right-shot.

Whether or not Miller is still with the Golden Knights next year remains to be seen though. Given Vegas’ salary cap troubles, they are going to have to move a handful of players in order to create cap space to make room for William Karlsson’s extension.

An offensive defenseman is a valuable commodity in the NHL and a host of teams, including the Toronto Maple Leafs and the New York Rangers, could be potential suitors should the Vegas front office look to shop Miller this summer.

If, however, Miller remains in Sin City then the Golden Knights will hope for a strong third year from the blueliner who, if he can iron out a few kinks in his game, can morph into a quality offensive defenseman capable of producing monster offense on the power play.

The numbers

Games: 65

Goals: 3

Assists: 26

Points: 29

PIM: 44

ATOI: 19:39

Plus / Minus: 0

Hits: 122

Blocked Shots: 64

Takeaways: 22

CF%: 56.9

oZS%: 61.0

Games (Playoffs): 6

Assists (Playoffs): 2

Goals (Playoffs): 1

Points (Playoffs): 3

Plus / Minus (Playoffs): +1

ATOI (Playoffs): 18:39

Blocked Shots (Playoffs): 13

Hits (Playoffs): 22

Next Report Card: Valentin Zykov