The Edmonton Oilers made a move on Monday, assigning Andrew Miller to the Charlotte Checkers of the AHL. To replace him, the Carolina Hurricanes assigned Zach Boychuk to the Bakersfield Condors. Essentially, the Oilers and Hurricanes swapped AHL forwards in what is basically a trade.
At 5’10” and 181 pounds, Andrew Miller simply no longer fit with the Edmonton Oilers. He’s not a big player and he isn’t exactly hard to play against, he’s essentially a minor league scorer. Miller was arguably Edmonton’s top dog offensively on the farm the last two years, posting 27-33-60 in 63 games in 2014-15 and 15-24-39 in 44 games this year. There is no doubt he is a high-end AHL offensive talent.
That said, Miller’s game has not translated to the next level. He had a nice run at the end of last year (1-5-6 in nine games), but was a non-factor in training camp this year and struggled mightily in six NHL games this season. The Oilers, by the looks of it, determined that he wasn’t part of the plans and wasn’t going to be re-signed this summer.
Boychuk, like Miller, will be a free agent this coming July and didn’t factor into the plans of his now former organization. Boychuk is roughly the same size, 5’10” and 185 pounds, but plays a harder game than Miller does. Offensively, he’s a little less of a factor, however.
In 39 AHL games a year ago, he posted 12-12-24, then followed that up with 9-16-25 in 56 games this year. In the NHL, he posted 3-3-6 in 31 games in 2014-15, but has yet to get into a game this season.
Boychuk is a different style of player, however. He’s a smart player who can do numerous things, not just post offense at the AHL level. He can play special teams minutes and, according to his The Hockey News scouting report, is an extremely versatile player.
From this angle, it looks like the Oilers exchanged a strong AHL offensive player for more complete player. Under Peter Chiarelli, this is the kind of minor league forward we should expect to see. Boychuk does a number of things really well and brings a different element to the table.
I view Miller as more of a tweener, a player who doesn’t really fit in with Edmonton due to his size and style. Boychuk, I view as a more complete player who could maybe help the Oilers in a depth role moving forward.
Odds are, this is just a test drive for both organizations. Whether or not it leads to anything is completely up for debate moving forward. If nothing else, this will give the Oilers a chance to a view a player that they may be interested in come summer time.
It will be interesting to see how Boychuk is used in Bakersfield.
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