Sportsnet's insiders are currently counting down their rankings of the NHL's top 50 players in the game today. On Wednesday, they released their ranking of players 30-21.
This particular edition of Sportsnet's rankings was relevant for Vancouver Cancucks fans, because it was the first one to include a couple of their own players. More specifically Elias Pettersson and J.T. Miller, at 25 and 23 respectively.
Of the two, we'd like to focus in on Miller, who was more than deserving of his inclusion and ranking. He's coming off a season where he set a whole of single-season personal career bests, as he solidified is standing as one of the best centres in the game.
A career year for Miller
These single-season bests, included 37 goals, 103 total points, a +32 rating, 217 hits and 61 blocks. Miller's 103 points specifically paced all Canucks and were also ninth-most in the NHL among all players.
However, the main reason we're focusing on the 31-year-old, is that it just seems like people are late coming to the party in terms of recognising his game. For example, last season was the first time he was selected to the NHL All-Star Game.
Along these lines, it sure sounds like Sportsnet are similarly late when it comes to realising how good Miller is. As per Sonny Sachdeva: "After three straight years, it’s time to accept that this is truly just what J.T. Miller is — an elite scorer who can hang points on the board with the best in the game."
Now keep in mind we're objective in our opinions, despite this being a Canucks website. Or at least as objective as you can be, when you are still offering an opinion.
A stubborn admission by Sportsnet
With this disclaimer, we would argue that Sportsnet's insiders are almost grudging/stubbornly ranking Miller at 23 in their top 50 players. In this respect, consider that Sachdeva goes on to write: "The doubt was fair after Year 1 of his late-career evolution, maybe even Year 2, because if you rewound to Miller’s New York days, he seemed like a talented depth forward, a 20-goal, 50-point complementary piece."
The thing is though, this shouldn't be about rewinding to Miller's New York days. His tenure with the Rangers concluded all the way back in Feb. 2018, when he was traded to the Tampa Bay Lightning.
The fact is that just two seasons ago, the East Palestine, Ohio native produced 99 points, which were also ninth-most among all NHL players. Further, for the three seasons in question for this late-career evolution, his 284 total points are 10th-most in the NHL.
Now of course, we appreciate that by nature, one of the reasons for lists of this nature, aise to encourage debate (including those of the heated variety). However, we would still contend that Sportsnet's insiders just made a mistake with their previous lower rankings of Miller, and are now trying to justify their error rather than admitting they just got it wrong.