As a result of what is being called both a premium price as well as a costly one, the Vancouver Canucks acquired J.T. Miller from the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday afternoon. Headed the other way are 27-year-old goaltender Marek Mazanec, the 71st pick in the 2019 draft and a conditional first round selection in 2020 in Montreal.
This is a pretty big trade (not the biggest today obviously). The Canucks feel they want to trade to compete and in this trade acquire a good middle age player for good scoring depth.
J.T. Miller is a 26-year-old forward who was originally picked in 2011, selected by the New York Rangers with the 15th overall pick. Although it took four years for Miller to become a full-time NHL’er, Miller made a big splash with 43 points in his first season as a full-time NHL’er. His career high of 58 points was achieved when he spent most of the season in Midtown Manhattan, but went on a tear in 19 games with the Lightning, with 18 points in 19 games to finish the season. This season, in a reduced role, he managed 47 points in 75 games. Not bad. Miller has four years left on a deal which gives him a $5.25 million cap hit.
Marek Mazanec is someone you shouldn’t pay much attention to if you’re a Lightning fan. Mazanec will be playing in his native Czech Republic for two seasons due to a deal signed earlier on. Due to him signing before he became an unrestricted free agent, the Canucks retained his rights on their reserve list and the expiry is indefinite.
Mazanec was drafted as an overager by the Predators. After a season in the Czech Republic, he had a decent season in the NHL, splitting the net with Pekka Rinne and Thunder Bay, Ontario native Carter Hutton. He ended the regular season having recorded a .902 save percentage.
He was unable to follow that up and became the Predators’ third string goalie for years, playing well in the AHL. After a brief stint in the KHL and two halves of a season in the Rangers organization, he was traded to the Vancouver Canucks in their scramble for a non-injured goaltender. Basically, Mazanec is a decent AHL goalie and the Lightning will just chill and hold his rights for a while, at least until he’s comfortable with joining the Syracuse Crunch.
The Lightning chose Hugo Alnefelt with their newly acquired pick. The Swedish goalie was ranked as the second best backstop coming out of Europe ahead of the draft. He was picked around where he was expected to be picked by some, but significantly higher for many others.
Alnefelt is expected to go back to Sweden for a while, but it seems he’s expected to fill in as a top goalie prospect for Connor Ingram, who was recently traded to the Orlando Solar Bears. I’m not about to predict this guy’s ceiling and potential because goalies are voodoo, but he should make a mark on the organization.
That first rounder in 2020 becomes a first rounder in 2021 if the Canucks miss the playoffs so that they don’t miss out on a potential lottery pick.
This deal is a huge headscratcher on the Canucks side. Miller is definitely good, but probably doesn’t warrant a first rounder. This comes at an unfortunate time too as P.K. Subban didn’t get a first rounder. The only way this could get worse on the Canucks side is if they end up missing the playoffs the next two years. The absolute worst case scenario is the Ottawa-Duchene situation, but that’s a bit different.
On Tampa’s side, it’s hard to imagine anyone’s unhappy. They just wanted to shed Miller’s $5.25 million dollar cap hit so they could sign RFA Brayden Point. Getting a first rounder (and a third rounder) has to be great for the Lightning. This is one of the better attempts at shedding cap hits with the Predators getting a subpar return for P.K. Subban and his large contract and the Leafs having to actually give up picks as opposed to gain them trading away Patrick Marleau. Although those situations are different, they still got quite the return for someone they’re perfectly fine with trading.
This trade is a bit of a questionable one, but this is a bit of a wait and see thing. If Vancouver can succeed with their young core plus those they’ve added, this trade doesn’t look as bad. If the Lightning win a Stanley Cup because they could sign Point, then I think the entire NHL should be upset at Jim Benning and his Canucks.