I don't understand why people
seem to think that Miller on the 4th line means he can't show something. Remember when Anisimov played on the 4th line with Shelley? He looked awesome and basically made it clear that he deserved to play with better players. Why don't we expect the same thing out of Miller instead of sitting here complaining that the players he'll be with suck?
I missed this earlier.
You certainly make a valid point regarding seizing the opportunity and forcing a promotion to an increased role. I think it's just a matter of our fourth line being a black hole for so long, that's it's basically seen that a rookie placed on that line is being setup to fail.
There's also the fact that guys like Pyatt and Pouliot don't really do much at all, and it sometimes seems like they're being handed a spot. Why not hand it to a kid? I don't necessarily subscribe to this line of thinking, but a lot of folks here do.