Tampa Bay Lightning Free Agents: Should they stay or should they go?
Name: J.T. Miller
Age: 25
Position: C
Free Agent Status: Restricted
J.T. Miller came to the Lightning at the trade deadline as part of the deal that brought Ryan McDonagh to the Bolts and sent Vladislav Namestnikov to the New York Rangers. There are a lot of parallels between the two players, and Miller ended up replacing Namestnikov completely on the first line with Steven Stamkos and Nikita Kucherov.
In his split season with the Rangers and the Lightning, Miller recorded 23 goals and 35 assists for a total of 58 points. He struggled in the playoffs though, producing only 2 goals and 6 assists. This was paired with a -4 plus/minus rating.
Miller is coming off of a two year, $5.5 million deal that he signed with the Rangers. This deal averaged him about $2.75 million a season. He’ll undoubtedly be looking for more than this with his next contract, which is where some problems start to come up.
Next season Nikita Kucherov, Brayden Point, Ryan McDonagh, Yanni Gourde, and a few others will all need new deals. Point will be coming off his Entry-Level Contract, so the pay bump for him will be substantial. If the Lightning is going to lock Nikita Kucherov up long term, it’ll take a lot more than the $4.7 million they’re paying him now.
That’s a whole lot of money that is (deservedly) going to two players. and that’s before any of the other Lightning free agents are addressed. Taking this into account, it may be smarter to trade his rights or simply just let him walk and save some cap space.
Verdict: Go, but not because of anything Miller did. It was pretty understood when this trade went through that Miller would be a rental player for the Lightning and most likely wouldn’t still be with them next season.
Miller can and should be replaced with one of the numerous promising prospects from the Syracuse Crunch who are competing for ice time in the NHL. When it comes down to money, signing a 25-year-old free agent is a whole lot more expensive than an ELC.
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In total, the Lightning should resign only half of their pending free agents. The common theme among the players that shouldn’t be offered new contracts is their replaceability. The Syracuse Crunch are deep with talented players that have great potential in the NHL and next season will be the perfect opportunity to prove themselves with the big club.