Anaheim Ducks goaltender Ryan Miller retires at age 40

Anaheim Ducks goaltender Ryan Miller of East Lansing, MI announced his plans to retire at the end of the 2020-21 National Hockey League regular season according to Sean O’Leary of The Score. Miller has played 18 seasons in the NHL with the Buffalo Sabres, St. Louis Blues, Vancouver Canucks and Anaheim Ducks from 2002 to 2021.

This season, Miller has been a backup to John Gibson of Pittsburgh, PA in between the Ducks pipes. He has posted a record of three wins, eight regulation losses, and one loss in extra time, a goals against average of 3.60, and a save percentage of .882. For his career, Miller has a record of 390 wins, 287 regulation losses, and 87 losses in extra time, with a goals against average of 2.63, a save percentage of .914, and 44 shutouts.

Among American-born goaltenders, Miller’s 390 wins are first all-time. John Vanbiesbrouck of Detroit, MI is second with 374 wins. Miller is also 14th all-time in goaltending wins. The all-time leader is Martin Brodeur with 691 wins.

Miller is also second all-time among American-born goaltenders in shutouts. The only American goaltender with more shutouts is Jonathan Quick of Milford, CT, who has 54 shutouts. Miller is tied for 36th all-time in NHL shutouts with Miikka Kiprusoff. Brodeur is the all-time leader in shutouts with 125.

In 2007, Miller represented the Sabres in the NHL All-Star Game. Three years later in 2009-10, Miller was a first-team All-Star and won the Vezina Trophy while with the Sabres. In 2009-10, he posted a record of 41 wins (a career-high) with 18 regulation losses, eight losses in extra time, five shutouts, a goals against average of 2.22, and a save percentage of .929.

Also in 2010, Miller won the Olympic silver medal for the United States at the Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver. In the gold medal game in men’s hockey, Canada defeated the United States 3-2 on an overtime winner by Sidney Crosby on a shot that beat Miller. One could argue that was the biggest moment in Canadian sports history. The reason is because due to that goal, Canada set the record for the most gold medals won at a single Olympic Winter Games with 14. The 14 gold medals have since been tied by Norway and Germany at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in Pyeongchang.