Hate on Richards all you want. Thats fine. Ill be right there with you.
But to say theres no way Miller can be worse next season is stupid.
So is he taking a center spot or is he taking Pouliot's? You're going back and forth.
Either way, I assure you that he could very well be worse than Richards. All while being highly unlikely to score 20 goals and 31 assists.
BRB
Not saying there's no way. Saying he'll have to deliberately try to be worse for that to be the case.
Trxjw
Either way, he's no worse of a defensive liability than those two players. Why are both of those two players comparable with Miller, potentially? Because those are the exact two spots he's most in line to grab. Either the "2c", which was Richards' slot, or the 3 LW, which was Poo's.
I compared him to Poo, initially, and you told me it was moot because he's a C and for C's defensive responsibility is that much more important (a sentiment that I do not disagree with). Then I compared him to Richards and you're trying to back me into a corner. Doesn't matter. Those are the two slots he's most likely to fit into. And he'd be less of a defensive liability than either of the two players he'd be replacing.
Can he come in and get 51 points? I think that the probability is really low that he can do that in his first year. But my argument about this is that the team got better as Richards regressed. Meaning if JT can do other things while maintaining a similar offensive output to end the season, he'll be more of an asset to the team than Richards was for the final 5 months (3 regular season, 2 post season).
Can he come in and get 36 points, Poo's output? Sure. It's much more realistic. And while being more defensively responsible and take less penalties? Yes.
My argument would be that he would slot better into the 3 LW position than the 2c position, although, it then becomes even more of a "pick your poison" situation for that position. If it's not Miller, the you're stuck picking between Lombardi (a player who was bounced out of the NHL with severe injury concerns and hasn't played in the league in years), Lindberg (a rookie who has never played an NHL game), D. Moore (who was tested as a 2c when Richards was moved down and failed in that position), or Chris Mueller (who's not even on anyone's radar as a potential starter, let alone 2c).
We're looking at repeating our performance from last year, and JT should be compared to the two guys whose position he is most likely to take.
#1 comparison - Richards. As inexperienced and aggressive as JT is, my opinion is that it would be pretty hard to do
worse defensively than Richards played last year. Offensively, by the time the team needed its most offense, Richards nearly sabotaged the entire 2nd line. He was slow to the play, terrible leading passes (for the most part), coughed the puck over like no other, didn't gel with Hagelin, Nash, MSL, or Kreider. So offensively, I'd even argue that he'd be a lateral move, if not an improvement with the faster and grittier Miller. Miller will go to the net, he'll open up space for MSL and Hagelin. Richards couldn't do that. Miller will push the pace up the ice more effectively. Richards couldn't do that. Miller projects to be better at face-offs than Richards. Richards was at 48% last year. Miller in his small sample size was at 52%. Miller will play better on the boards than Richards did. And whereas Richards is an established vet who is used to playing a certain style of hockey, Miller will be more adaptable to his linemates. A big problem with many of Richards' linemates is that they'd have to adjust their approach to how Richards played. Now, with Miller? He's going to have to learn how to play with his wingers, rather than a vice-versa situation.
#2 comparison - Poo. There's no explanation needed about defensive responsibility. Poo was arguably the most irresponsible and careless player on the team, even more so than Derek "the headless chicken" Dorsett. Offensively, in his first year, Miller could provide just what Poo did, if not improve that total.
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