Toronto Maple Leafs: Addressing the Colin Miller rumours

There have been rumours the Toronto Maple Leafs could acquire a defenceman through the Vegas Golden Knights and Colin Miller may be the target.

The past two days have been filled with trade rumours. It’s expected considering all the side deals the Vegas Golden Knights were thought to be involved in. In a nut shell, Vegas would take a player and then flip them to a team interested in said player. The Toronto Maple Leafs are one of these teams that may be using this method.

There were reports hours before the draft that Vegas would take Colin Miller from the Boston Bruins and then flip him to the Leafs.

The first part has come true already as Miller is on the Golden Knights’ roster. Whether the Leafs are and/or should be interested is another thing.

Player Profile

Miller is a offensive right-handed defenceman with a heavy shot and puck moving abilities. His play matches the style the Leafs already have as he’s also noted for his skating and transition game. The 24-year-old played 61 games for the Bruins this season making $1 million.

One thing the Leafs lack is a bomb from the blue line. Part of the reason why the Leafs run four forwards on the power play is because they don’t have that slap shot. Miller can supply that.

It’s not a surprise that TSN’s Ray Ferraro on Overdrive would call him a right-handed Jake Gardiner as his advanced numbers are solid. In particular, his shot generation and suppression. Miller is also not afraid to drop the gloves and throw his weight around standing at 6-foot-1 and 196 pounds.

Another thing to take note of is his connection to the Leafs already. Miller played and was captain for the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds when Kyle Dubas and Sheldon Keefe were with the organization. Taking away all the stats, if anyone knew what kind of player Miller was on and off the ice, it would be them.

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A con to take note of, however, is his ice time. Miller averaged 15:49 per game in his first full NHL season where you could say he was sheltered starting in the offensive zone 64.8 percent of the time. Many have said that Miller could play more. Perhaps all he would need is the opportunity.

Acquiring him

Defence is a high priority right now in the NHL. With his style of play, age, and most importantly his contract (one more year at $1 million), Miller is an attractive option for the Leafs.

If we take into account what Lance Hornby tweeted, the cost could be Connor Carrick and Seth Griffith. With Griffith being an RFA and Carrick not doing much this season to scream core piece, this wouldn’t be much to give up.

There’s an additional angle to the tweet if Miller isn’t the third 2012 fifth round pick mentioned. Dominic Toninato was also drafted then and will become a UFA August 15th if not signed. If Vegas also wanted the rights to Toninato on top of Griffith and Carrick, I doubt the Leafs would object.

It seems like Vegas is mostly interested in picks based on the deals they’ve already made. A mid-to-late round pick in this year’s — or next year’s — draft isn’t a terrible cost.

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The fit for Miller on the team would be perfect as he’d probably slot in next to Gardiner. It’ll be interesting to see if the Leafs are actually working to pursue him. Management has given the sense that the goal of this offseason is to improve the blue line. Considering who the Leafs had playing besides Morgan Rielly, Nikita Zaitsev and Gardiner, adding Miller would be a definite improvement.