Miller has surpassed expectations vis-a-vis his draft position, but not where we have pencilled him in for ourselves. We are counting on him, and paying him, to be a future top pair defender, or at least that caliber player even if he stays on the second pair. At $4M+ on a second contract, he has to be moving towards that. This isn't a discussion of whether he's a success as a draft pick, it's a discussion as to what we need him to be given the time, money, and on-ice minutes we've invested in him and expect from him. We expect and need him to take the next leap and he hasn't quite so far.
That's not to say he's bad. His charts are good and I'd like to see what he looks like away from the anchor he plays with. He's a keeper. The chart says he needs to be a 1D on the second pair and he's not that, yet, though.
Same for Lafreniere, though with him he's underachieving relative to his draft position unlike Miller. Still, yeah, Laf has has a very good year if you strip away 1OA expectations. On the other hand, his defense remains mediocre to lousy, he needs to improve his finishing, and he goes too long without making an impact at times. The chart says we need another player who is more at Kreider's level. Not there.... yet.
I do agree, as I said, that the chart probably doesn't factor in bad luck, so it's probably dinging Lafreniere more than he should be. Still, I'd like to see Lafreniere take another step and Kakko take a step into Lafreniere territory before I really stop worrying about them.
