deluca67 Posted July 15, 2009 Report Posted July 15, 2009 I don't know about that. If Miller is not a $6 million goalie then who is? If you look at his numbers, they are almost identical to Henrik Lundqvist, and Miller has beaten Lundqvist head-to-head in the playoffs and has gone further in the playoffs than Lundqvist has. The numbers are really close. For Lundqvist in 265 NHL games he is 142-83-34 with a 2.31 GAA and .917 save percentage. In 264 NHL games, Ryan Miller is 146-86-26 with a 2.66 GAA and .910 save percentage. Lundqvist has 20 shutouts to Miller's 12. The numbers are really almost identical between the two guys. Lundqvist is earning $6.875 million/season while Miller earns $6.25 million/year in his new deal. If you tell me Miller is overpaid, then you are also telling me that Lundqvist is overpaid as well. I'll give you guys like Broder, Nabakov, Luongo, and Kiprusoff deserve to earn more. I'd even be willing to go with Tim Thomas, Marty Turco, Niklas Backstrom as deserving more money than Miller/Lundqvist. But aside from that, I can't really justify any other goalies in the NHL deserving better pay than Miller and Lundqvist. The numbers speak for themselves and he's pretty consistent over the last 4 years. He's put up better numbers than a lot of goalies considered to be "better" such as Giguere, Cam Ward, Khabibulin, Chris Osgood, Marc Andre Fleury, and others around the league. If you look at the numbers, Miller is a top 10 goalie in the NHL and deserves to be paid like a top 10 goalie. If Miller is not a $6 million goalie, then neither is Lundqvist, Thomas, Turco, Backstrom, Giguere, Fleury and others. Miller was the difference between the Sabres making the playoffs and missing the playoffs. He is the best player on this team whether you like him or not. He means more to this team than any other player on the roster right now and you can see it in their performance with him in the lineup vs. without him in the lineup, it's that simple. Lundqvist was a stout 11 & 5 in March and April allowing 35 goals in 16 games. He carried the Rangers into the playoffs. They way he played down the stretch puts him closer to elite status.
nfreeman Posted July 15, 2009 Report Posted July 15, 2009 Lundqvist was a stout 11 & 5 in March and April allowing 35 goals in 16 games before completely falling apart in games 6 and 7 of their first-round playoff series, thereby handing the series on a silver platter to the Capitals. He carried the Rangers into the playoffs. They way he played down the stretch puts him closer to elite status. fixed.
nfreeman Posted July 15, 2009 Report Posted July 15, 2009 I don't know about that. If Miller is not a $6 million goalie then who is? If you look at his numbers, they are almost identical to Henrik Lundqvist, and Miller has beaten Lundqvist head-to-head in the playoffs and has gone further in the playoffs than Lundqvist has. The numbers are really close. For Lundqvist in 265 NHL games he is 142-83-34 with a 2.31 GAA and .917 save percentage. In 264 NHL games, Ryan Miller is 146-86-26 with a 2.66 GAA and .910 save percentage. Lundqvist has 20 shutouts to Miller's 12. The numbers are really almost identical between the two guys. Lundqvist is earning $6.875 million/season while Miller earns $6.25 million/year in his new deal. If you tell me Miller is overpaid, then you are also telling me that Lundqvist is overpaid as well. I'll give you guys like Broder, Nabakov, Luongo, and Kiprusoff deserve to earn more. I'd even be willing to go with Tim Thomas, Marty Turco, Niklas Backstrom as deserving more money than Miller/Lundqvist. But aside from that, I can't really justify any other goalies in the NHL deserving better pay than Miller and Lundqvist. The numbers speak for themselves and he's pretty consistent over the last 4 years. He's put up better numbers than a lot of goalies considered to be "better" such as Giguere, Cam Ward, Khabibulin, Chris Osgood, Marc Andre Fleury, and others around the league. If you look at the numbers, Miller is a top 10 goalie in the NHL and deserves to be paid like a top 10 goalie. If Miller is not a $6 million goalie, then neither is Lundqvist, Thomas, Turco, Backstrom, Giguere, Fleury and others. Miller was the difference between the Sabres making the playoffs and missing the playoffs. He is the best player on this team whether you like him or not. He means more to this team than any other player on the roster right now and you can see it in their performance with him in the lineup vs. without him in the lineup, it's that simple. I've never felt going into a particular game "great Miller is in net, the Sabres have this one." He's a good goalie. Probably the best this team can afford. He's not elite. You can say the exact same for Pominville. He's a good goal scorer. The fans are lucky to have such a decent guy on the team. I would trade him in a heart beat. $5.3 mil is a hefty salary. 526 is 100% correct. If Miller isn't worth $6MM per year, there isn't a single goalie in the NHL who is. Not one. But I agree with you about Pommer. If the right trade comes up, I'm totally fine with trading him. I do think though as I mentioned in another thread that I am cautiously optimistic that he will return to consistent 30-goal, 70-point production, in which case his contract is pretty decent (not a great deal, but not bad either).
deluca67 Posted July 15, 2009 Report Posted July 15, 2009 fixed. The funny thing about falling apart in the playoffs is that you have to make the playoffs first. It's kinda of hard continuing a discussion comparing Lundqvist and Miller when one has gotten his team into the playoffs the past two seasons and one has not.
X. Benedict Posted July 15, 2009 Report Posted July 15, 2009 He's not a $6 million dollar goalie. He absolutely is to this organization. Can you imagine letting him walk at 4.5?
SabresFan526 Posted July 15, 2009 Report Posted July 15, 2009 The funny thing about falling apart in the playoffs is that you have to make the playoffs first. It's kinda of hard continuing a discussion comparing Lundqvist and Miller when one has gotten his team into the playoffs the past two seasons and one has not. I think you said the magic words right there. Hockey is a team game. Lundqvist has been surrounded with better players over the last two years than Miller has. Even in the same timeframe, Miller has put up similar numbers to Lundqvist. Perhaps that would make Miller a better goalie than Lundqvist since he was putting up similar numbers with a far worse team in terms of talent, scoring, and defense. And, when Miller had a good team, he beat Lundqvist head-to-head in the playoffs over a 6 game series. So, putting the team's deficiencies entirely on Miller is ridiculous. At the end of the day, it's not Miller's fault Pominville and Hecht aren't scoring. It's not Miller's fault that Roy had a down year. It's not Miller's fault that Stafford disappears for long stretches throughout the season. Miller can just stop the puck, and if you look at the statistics, he does it with about the same regularity as Henrik Lundqvist does. By the way, I'm not saying Miller can't be better. He certainly can be. But, he is the least of the problems on the Buffalo Sabres, and statistically is proving to be a top 10 goaltender in the NHL consistently.
nobody Posted July 15, 2009 Report Posted July 15, 2009 The funny thing about falling apart in the playoffs is that you have to make the playoffs first. It's kinda of hard continuing a discussion comparing Lundqvist and Miller when one has gotten his team into the playoffs the past two seasons and one has not. But but but Miller got hurt. That's why the Sabres didn't make the playoffs. If Miller was healthy the team would have made the playoffs. ;)
Stoner Posted July 15, 2009 Report Posted July 15, 2009 But but but Miller got hurt. That's why the Sabres didn't make the playoffs. If Miller was healthy the team would have made the playoffs. ;) But if Miller had played better in November and December after his very good start, the Sabres would have had the cushion to survive his absence.
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