LD K'Andre Miller (2018, 22nd, NYR)

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Whats with his offensive stats? Is he not being put in an offensive role or is his offensive upside limited?

He has a lot of upside offensively and defensively, but needs time to develop, he's not currently all that good. If you were drafting on current play, he wouldn't go in the first few rounds, in my opinion. Definitely a big-time project, but he has significant upside on both ends of the ice.

Ideally, you would prefer not to take such a big project in the first round and would prefer this guy as a big boom-bust pick in the second round, but I think he might go in the first. I think his range is 20-40.

 

[Frk It]

Whats with his offensive stats? Is he not being put in an offensive role or is his offensive upside limited?

I believe he played forward until only a year or two ago. And he is a very good skater. So he is raw, but scouts (hockeyprospect.com has him ranked high for this reason) really like his upside and his tools.

Watching the 6-foot-3, 192-pounder on the ice, it’s hard to believe that he only started playing defense two years ago when he was back home in Hopkins, Minnesota.
“I was a forward my whole life,” explained Miller. “I started playing D two years ago. My coach back in Minnesota, he was looking for an extra guy to build a team. He wanted to know if I wanted to try it for a few games. I ended up liking it a lot and was able to get up in the rush.

K’Andre Miller Has Family and NHL Role Models to Thank for Love of Hockey

 

[Frk It]

6 pts in his last 2 games, the pts are about to start coming I think.

 

[Tryamkin]

6 pts in his last 2 games, the pts are about to start coming I think.

Wasn’t a doubt in my mind they would come, he shows lots of offensive potential and I’m glad it’s starting to show.

 

[SnowblindNYR]

Jeez... I feel old hearing about these guys born in 2000, and I was only in kindergarten when they were born.

Any video you could provide?

Dude I was in High School.

 

[TT1]

Seems like a guy some teams are going to regret passing on late 1st.

This year's draft is so unbelievably stacked, Miller is another good one. He could end up being a hidden gem pick in the 2nd a la Clague. Don't think he'll fall to the 2nd round tho.

 

[93LEAFS]

This year's draft is so unbelievably stacked, Miller is another good one. He could end up being a hidden gem pick in the 2nd a la Clague. Don't think he'll fall to the 2nd round tho.

He'll go mid to late first. Great raw tools and good instincts. Sorting out which order to take the 3 USNTDP defenders will be interesting. There are good arguments for all 3. M. Samuelsson has the most well rounded game, Wilde has great tools, but figuring out his Hockey-IQ is difficult (really gets trapped up ice too often, isn't positionally sound), and Miller is the most raw, but seems capable of doing everything, but is nowhere near as refined as Samulsson.

 

[cgf]

This is who I want the Avs to select with the Ottawa pick if the team uses its own pick on a forward...assuming the avs fall off as the year progresses and sell some pieces that aren't part of the long term puzzle like Comeau (who's a leader in the lockerroom & playing great this season), Bernier, maybe Soderberg, maybe Andrighetto...so that pick ends up top 7 or 8 (at least) even without any lotto karma...while Karlsson gets back to form and takes Ottawa on another run in the second half of the season.

With Girard shining in the NHL so far, and Zadorov getting back into that form that he played over the 20-25 games that preceded his season ending injury last season...which had so many of us gushing so much about Nikita. Miller could get the super slow burn he needs to have all the time in the world to hone his immense raw potential.

 

[57special]

I wouldn't mind seeing this guy back at forward.

 

[Whalers Fan]

I was watching Miller more closely last night to figure out why he makes so many defensive mistakes. I noticed several times that he actually turned his back on the opponent he was attempting to cover as that player skated along the boards in the NTDP defensive zone. Each time his opponent proceeded to skate right by him while Miller's back was facing the opponent. It was a display of horrible fundamentals, which we are seeing from several of the NTDP U18 defensemen this season under new coach Seth Appert.

 

[LastWordArmy]

Our look at Miller

K'Andre Miller Scouting Report: 2018 NHL Draft #24

 

[JK2K]

Wow high ranking. He is really struggling at the u18s. Really struggling.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Wow high ranking. He is really struggling at the u18s. Really struggling.

He's been dropping in my rankings for months.

He's a great skater and theoretically, he has offensive and defensive potential, but he's not a good hockey player right now, in my opinion. I don't know how much better he actually is right now than some of the worst players on the team. His hockey IQ is also a problem, its worse than Wilde's.

 

[Whalers Fan]

He's been dropping in my rankings for months.

He's a great skater and theoretically, he has offensive and defensive potential, but he's not a good hockey player right now, in my opinion. I don't know how much better he actually is right now than some of the worst players on the team. His hockey IQ is also a problem, its worse than Wilde's.

He is definitely a major project, and any team using a first round draft pick on Miller is taking a huge gamble. He's the biggest "boom or bust" prospect in this draft. Personally, after watching him for the past two seasons, I would not select him in the first round.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

He is definitely a major project, and any team using a first round draft pick on Miller is taking a huge gamble. He's the biggest "boom or bust" prospect in this draft. Personally, after watching him for the past two seasons, I would not select him in the first round.

I already had dropped him to beginning of the second round in my last list. He'll be no better than mid-second round in my next list.

 

[57special]

Like i said earlier, he's a guy who you can pick and contemplate putting him back at forward, where he has played most of his life. I don't get trying to convert him to D.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Like i said earlier, he's a guy who you can pick and contemplate putting him back at forward, where he has played most of his life. I don't get trying to convert him to D.

He has some offensive ability, but I don't see big potential at forward. His skill is more in the average category for a player of any position. I think you'd be better off trying to develop him as a defenseman.

 

[57special]

He has some offensive ability, but I don't see big potential at forward. His skill is more in the average category for a player of any position. I think you'd be better off trying to develop him as a defenseman.

Did you ever see him play forward?
I've watched him for years locally as a forward, where he excelled. Not saying he is perfect, but that mix of size and speed isn't common, and it's not like he is some dumb guy with no skills. Switching positions when 16yo is going to Pejorative Slur anyone's progress, let alone switching a winger to back to D. Completely different set of skills and instincts.

Bizarre that the word I used was censored. It was not bad language, and totally correct English...

 

[Whalers Fan]

He has some offensive ability, but I don't see big potential at forward. His skill is more in the average category for a player of any position. I think you'd be better off trying to develop him as a defenseman.

I agree. His offensive skills are not so impressive that he would make an attractive prospect as a forward. Instead, he would be just another guy and probably no better than a middle round pick. I certainly wouldn't waste a 1st or 2nd round pick on him with the intention of returning him to forward.

 

[Goldenhands]

He's been dropping in my rankings for months.

He's a great skater and theoretically, he has offensive and defensive potential, but he's not a good hockey player right now, in my opinion. I don't know how much better he actually is right now than some of the worst players on the team. His hockey IQ is also a problem, its worse than Wilde's.

not a f***ing chance lol, he actually has a very good hockey IQ since he does alot of little things very well, he is way more reliable defensively than Wilde and much smarter in his decision making, he has great gap control, very good stick work, he excels at taking away time and space to the other teams fowards and unlike a guy like M.Samuelson, he doesnt flumble when pressured hard by forecheckers... His size strength skating and mobility allow him to crush players all the times and make him a very tough defender to face in all 3 zones.. Ive been watching the US u18 team for a while and Miller is the one that stood out the most for the good reasons, I find his game particulary well rounded for a kid who swapped positions no long ago..

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

not a ****ing chance lol, he actually has a very good hockey IQ since he does alot of little things very well, he is way more reliable defensively than Wilde and much smarter in his decision making, he has great gap control, very good stick work, he excels at taking away time and space to the other teams fowards and unlike a guy like M.Samuelson, he doesnt flumble when pressured hard by forecheckers... His size strength skating and mobility allow him to crush players all the times and make him a very tough defender to face in all 3 zones.. Ive been watching the US u18 team for a while and Miller is the one that stood out the most for the good reasons, I find his game particulary well rounded for a kid who swapped positions no long ago..

I've been watching this team, as well. I don't see what you do, but to each their own. I don't want my team picking him in the first round.

 

[Whalers Fan]

not a ****ing chance lol, he actually has a very good hockey IQ since he does alot of little things very well, he is way more reliable defensively than Wilde and much smarter in his decision making, he has great gap control, very good stick work, he excels at taking away time and space to the other teams fowards and unlike a guy like M.Samuelson, he doesnt flumble when pressured hard by forecheckers... His size strength skating and mobility allow him to crush players all the times and make him a very tough defender to face in all 3 zones.. Ive been watching the US u18 team for a while and Miller is the one that stood out the most for the good reasons, I find his game particularly well rounded for a kid who swapped positions no long ago..

I have watched almost all Miller's NTDP home games in person for the past two years. We must be discussing two different players, because what I've seen is a guy struggling with the defensive aspects of the game. He has the technical flaws of a former forward who is now playing defense. On opponent rushes into the USA defensive zone, he has trouble staying with his man while skating backwards -- I've seen him actually turn his back on his opponent numerous times, letting the opponent skate right past him to the net.

 

[Goldenhands]

I have watched almost all Miller's NTDP home games in person for the past two years. We must be discussing two different players, because what I've seen is a guy struggling with the defensive aspects of the game. He has the technical flaws of a former forward who is now playing defense. On opponent rushes into the USA defensive zone, he has trouble staying with his man while skating backwards -- I've seen him actually turn his back on his opponent numerous times, letting the opponent skate right past him to the net.

I have watched the 5 nations + about 10 USHL games and I never saw him get beat from the outside cause of backward skating issue, his skating style and the way he cut plays reminds me of Brent Burns, not always elegant but at the end, it gets the job done...

 

[Whalers Fan]

I have watched the 5 nations + about 10 USHL games and I never saw him get beat from the outside cause of backward skating issue, his skating style and the way he cut plays reminds me of Brent Burns, not always elegant but at the end, it gets the job done...

I saw it happen three times alone in a mid-January game versus Sioux City.

 

[AmericanDream]

I saw it happen three times alone in a mid-January game versus Sioux City.

maybe you were sitting the wrong way??? lol!!