J.T. Miller, C – Connecticut Whale (AHL)
As one of only three returning players from Team USA’s disastrous 2012 world juniors, Miller had more than enough ammunition to get him pumped for Ufa this year. And with part of a campaign playing against men in the American League behind him, the young power forward came correct with nine points in seven games, tying him for the team lead with Jacob Trouba and Johnny Gaudreau en route to a gold medal.
“It was nice getting to play guys my own age for a bit and just get some confidence back,” Miller said.
Because he was drafted out of the U.S. National Team Development Program, Miller was allowed to hit the AHL as a teenager, something he could not have done if he had started his junior career in Plymouth, where he played last season in the Ontario League. Life in the ‘A’ has been tough and satisfying.
“It took me awhile to adjust there, plus I went from wing to center, but it was one of the best leagues in the world to play in when the lockout was on,” he said. “It’s really good competition, I love it.”
Miller has tallied 16 points through 32 games and at times has gone on nice offensive runs for several games. Not bad for one of the youngest players in the league. With the end of the NHL lockout clawing back some of the talent that normally wouldn’t have been in the AHL, the Ohio native will be one of the better prospects to watch down there for the rest of the season. Drafted 15th overall by the New York Rangers in 2011.
FIRST PERIOD: Yogan is replaced by Thomas in the lineup.
Miss in goal. Miller is centering Haley and Segal on the starting face-off. Parlett and Klassen are back together on the first pairing.
Miller with a great pass to Haley, who has stone hands and just redirected the puck on the goalie. Should've scored.
Penalty on the Phantoms at 32 seconds. Kolarik-Newbury-Thomas-Mash-Pyett is the first unit.
Harper just undressed Collins, forcing him to take a penalty. Would've been a breakaway if Bourque didn't rush back.
GOAL: He did the Mash, the monster Mash. Kolarik with a nice pass to him. Noob with the other assist. Parlett did a good job keeping the puck in the offensive zone to start the play.
Vernace is being his useless self. Can't do anything right. Can't pass on the stick, can't dump the puck out, can't take a hit. Pretty sure he has to hold a gun to Kenny G's head just to be allowed to play.
Nice pass by McIlrath to Bourque, who rushes and shoots. Good play.
Miss is having a start to the good game. 9 saves in half a period.
Miller is invisible. He'll flash something nice once or twice a game, but then just disappears. Honestly, he looks like what he is: a teenager playing against adults. He's easily one of the least polished players on the team. Nowhere near NHL level. He would get embarrassed if he got called up to the NHL right now. To be perfectly honest, Miller is one of the worst players on the team.
Jean with a nice play, creating a 2-on-1 with his speed. He's surprisingly fast for a guy who's 6-foot-4. Needs to work on his shot. It's accurate, but not hard. Jean's reminding me of a faster version of Brian Boyle.
Noob with a great pass to Mash, sending him on a breakaway, but there was a terrific glove save on his very good snap shot.
Wilson took a penalty. It was a good defensive play, but he lifted the stick a little too high, and it became a hooking call. Now Noob took a penalty, but it's a bad call by the ref. It's going to be a 5-on-3 for almost full 2 minutes.
Bourque with a nice, physical play on the PK to stop the rush. Parlett doing well tonight.
GOAL: Just 4 seconds before the of the 5-on-3, Phantoms scored on a hard shot from 50 feet out. Miss was screened.
Tessier provokes a penalty. Hopefully we'll go up again.
Thomas keeps firing away from the blue line on the PP. He has a superstar shot. Tremendously hard and very accurate.
GOAL: Segal scored. Parlett did a good job keeping the puck in. J.T. Miller also got an assist, but only because the puck touched his foot by accident on the way from Parlett to Segal.
Bourque got slashed. He left the ice. Hopefully nothing serious, he's been playing well.
McIlrath tried to make a goalie-style kick save of the puck on the offensive blue line, almost made a split, and obviously the puck went through. Terrible decision to try this.
Whale playing well to close out the period. Pyett is having a good period.
FIRST PERIOD OVER. Miss with 10 saves on 11 shots. The new line of Mash-Noob-Kolarik is looking good.
Ryan Bourque is done for the night. His wrist will have to be x-rayed. He got slashed badly at the end of the first.
GOAL: Wilson scored off a rebound from a Thomas shot. As Thomas was skating, I thought to myself that he's having a much better game. He's really using his shot tonight. It was a very nice rebound by Thomas, who just roofed it from up close. Klassen with the other assist.
Mash takes the puck away from a few feet out, but is stopped.
Very nice sliding save by Miss.
Mash almost scored another one off a good Thomas play.
Wiebe going coast-to-coast, using his speed.
GOAL: Good hard shot from Tessier. Mash and Collins with assists. But it was a bad goal to give up by the Phantoms goalie, who's pulled. Brian Boucher is now in the net for the Phans.
PENALTY: Whale got the Phans to run around, causing the penalty.
Miss with a series of good saved on a shot and its rebounds.
GOAL: Hard slap shot from the blue line by Vernace with a terrific re-direction by Haley. Parlett with the other assist.
Jean set up Kolarik on a 2-on-1, but didn't go in.
PENALTY: McIlrath for boarding or roughing. I don't mind this kind of a penalty. Makes people afraid to play the Whale and it's not as if the game is close.
GOAL: Very good save by Miss, but the Phans just charged into the crease and nobody cleared them out. This is the old problem that the team had before McIlrath joined the team, and with him in the penalty box, it happened again. Miss has had a good game so far.
Thomas almost scored from a few feet out, beat Boucher, but overshot the net.
PENALTY: Haley draws a penalty with a good play. Nothing happened on the PP.
END OF THE SECOND PERIOD. Another good period by Miss who had 12 saves on 13 shots in the period, and 22 saves on 24 shots through 2 periods.
Whale gets another PP 53 seconds into the period. Whale give up a breakaway goal while on the PP. Nice shake and bake. Miss can't move side to side that fast. 5-3.
Thomas firing away every chance he has, and given his great shot, he's much more effective this way than trying to be a playmaker.
The Whale are being badly outplayed since giving up the third goal. Look very tentative out there.
Thomas called for a penalty for diving, but also draws a penalty. 4-on-4.
McIlrath with bad decision-making, trying to stick-handle behind the net.
PENALTY: Mash for interference. They trying really hard to lose now.
PENALTY: Wiebe unintentionally clipped a Phan.
Nice stop by Miss on a shot and then on the rebound.
Boucher pulled with 2 minutes to go. 6 on 5.
GOAL: A couple shots stopped by Miss, but he keeps giving up rebounds and it's now 5:4. It's now a 1 goal game with 1:45 left.
GOAL: Unbelievable. It was a 5:1 game and now it's 5-5. Again, Miss left a rebound.
END OF REGULATION. Total bull. I've never seen a team give up 2 goals on a 6-on-5.
OT GOAL: Segal scores. Vernace made a nice/lucky pass to Segal. Mash gets the other assist. At least they won. I still want to spit in all their faces.
Talbot should get the Vezina Trophy for somehow having a 2.69 GAA and .915 SV% on this horrible team. Miss gave up 5 goals, and the funny thing is that he wasn't terrible at all. Sure, he gives up rebounds, but hey, how about just once someone clears a rebound? Each time he gives up a rebound, there are 3 follow up shots. Total bull. If I were a Whale goalie, I would no longer be on speaking terms with the defensemen.
But neither the forwards nor the defensemen are good. They have yet to play the full 60 minutes well. Either they suck at the start or at the end, but they always suck at some point. They can suck for 60 minutes, but they can never play tolerably for the whole 60 minutes.
He won't. His play does not reflect point per game ability. He's the AHL version of Rupp.
I think the hope has to be that he can turn into Mike Rupp in the NHL. If he scores ~30 points in the AHL this season, that is decent for a guy who figures to be a tough-guy in the NHL IMO.
For the love of good, I sure hope so! Thinnest of thin roster... wow.
ok but when will Whale pick up some AHL defenseman who might have a chance in the NHL?? not some ECHL skill playing on the AHL defense or even in the NHL (Bickel)
Whale fwds when all are back will look something like this:
Hrivik - Newbury - Ferriero
Haley - Miller - Thomas
Mashinter - Jean - Segal
Yogan - Tessier - Bourque
Wilson/Wiebe
Expect more roster movement...
I know Wilson and Yogan are viewed as prospects, and Wiebe isn't, but there's no way in hell that he's worse than them. He's a spark plug who can skate and carry the puck. He gets in the way of opposing players. I love watching him, one of the few Whale players that make the games interesting.
Wilson has no skill, none, zero. He's not even skilled for the ECHL level. I am not sure if he'd be considered a skill player at the SPHL level or if he'd still be a tough guy (though at that level, he'd get plenty of garbage goals).
Yogan has good speed, but otherwise not much better than Wilson at this point. Wiebe is superior to either of them.
This team needs defensemen more than than anything else. Klassen, Pyett, Parlett are ok. McIlrath is just getting his feet wet, but should definitely play. Vernace and Collins are not up to par at this level. They are terrible. If we still had Redden, the team would've had a whole different look to it.
This team needs defensemen more than than anything else. Klassen, Pyett, Parlett are ok. McIlrath is just getting his feet wet, but should definitely play. Vernace and Collins are not up to par at this level. They are terrible. If we still had Redden, the team would've had a whole different look to it.
They should bring up Desisle and Marcou from Greenville for D.Desisle leads league in plus minus and Marcou made ECHL all star team they would be worth a look
I don't think McColgan will be in the AHL next season, I think he starts in the ECHL.
This is the Whale lineup that I see next year:
Miller - Newbury - Ferriero
Bourque - Lindberg - Fasth
Mash - Jean - Thomas
Yogan - Wiebe - Haley
EXTRA: Wilson,
McColgan could compete with Wilson for the extra spot, but it would make more sense for a young player to start in the ECHL where he'd get decent playing minutes. And to be honest with you, I think skill-wise, he's more an ECHLer than an AHLer at this point.
Hrivik?? Big club???
No MSC?
Methinx probably one of Lindberg/Miller (if not both) will be with the big club too due to cap reasons (also someone replacing UFA Halpern)
Expect to see Noreau on Defense too
Maybe something like -
Hrivik - Newbury - Ferriero
MSC - Lindberg/Miller - Fasth
Mash - Jean - Thomas
Bourque - Wiebe - Haley
EXTRAs: Yogan, Wilson
I also might like to see us taking a chance on signing The Behemoth on D Andrej Sustr out of college too. Maybe drafting this Miles Bell fella too - perhaps for one of our 3rd rounders. Looks interesting - despite a dramatic past...
Folks, any time table on Hrivik? Is he close at all? Maybe he can plug in the hole on the 3rd line that we have at some point if Kreider stays scratched.
ok but when will Whale pick up some AHL defenseman who might have a chance in the NHL?? not some ECHL skill playing on the AHL defense or even in the NHL (Bickel)
i love this trade....
doesn't look like it. if you look at the AHL transaction page, there are plenty of AHL teams signing former NHL dmen, 7th, 8th, 9th NHL dmen to play at the AHL level.
Frankly the 8 D that are in NY are the only ones that can/should/have to be in the NHL... there is no depth in Hartford whatsoever. One guy thinks he's Sergei Zubov (Blake Parlett), one guy thinks he is Blake Parlett (Logan Pyett), one guy thinks he will be out of a job soon (Sean Collins), one guy's in the coach's doghouse (Mike Vernace), one guy who actually plays solid but strictly D (Sam Klassen) and one who currently is more like Brett Lindros hoping to be the Eric Lindors on defense (Dylan McIlrath).
BS move meant to pump him up only because he's a first rounder, and for no other reason. If I were another Whale, I'd be mad right now. It's not fair and it doesn't create the right team psychology. People shouldn't be rewarded for doing nothing. He's nowhere near the best player on the team. He's not even in the top half of the Whale's forwards.
BS move meant to pump him up only because he's a first rounder, and for no other reason. If I were another Whale, I'd be mad right now. It's not fair and it doesn't create the right team psychology. People shouldn't be rewarded for doing nothing. He's nowhere near the best player on the team. He's not even in the top half of the Whale's forwards.
They all played better than Miller, plus Kolarik too.
Newbury's up with the Rangers, Hrivik has a concussion, Kolarik's gone, and everyone else on that list is debatable. Also, it's the AHL All Star game. Who gives a ****?
