Ryan Miller has been traded to the St. Louis Blues. The deal which has been rumored for the better part of several months finally came to fruition on Friday evening. The Blues are sending Jaroslav Halak, Chris Stewart, prospect William Carrier, a first-round pick in 2015 and a third-round pick in 2016 to the Sabres in exchange for Miller and Steve Ott.
Buffalo will reportedly absorb some of Miller's current salary, but details around that have been vague.
The Blues paid a steep, steep price to land Miller and Ott.
It's win now for the St. Louis Blues. This trade will be discussed for years and it will take just as long to determine which side came out on top.
Was this the move the Blues needed? We'll have to wait and see.
Brian Elliott and Jaroslav Halak were 8th and 9th in the NHL in GAA prior to their trade. The goaltending wasn't perfect, but it wasn't the main area of concern in my mind. It was for some fans, but the statistics weren't dreadful by any stretch of the imagination.
Then there's Steve Ott. I can't believe this guy is a member of the Blues. If he is able to avoid playing dirty, he's actually a nice addition. However, and it keeps coming back to this, the price was steep.
If Buffalo pays a portion of Miller's current salary, the deal kind of shapes up like this:
Miller for Halak
Ott for Stewart, Carrier and two picks.
Now that's not an entirely fair line to draw, but it does a decent job showing how it looks like the Blues were forced to pay a hefty ransom just to acquire a new goaltender who may or may not be the answer and a guy who is supposedly good in the playoffs despite not appearing there since 2007-08.
The Blues now have the daunting task of signing Miller to a new contract. That's an important part of this discussion. He'll need a new deal and it's going to have to be a massive one. Miller's new deal will dwarf Halak's $3.75 million salary from 2013-14.
If I had to assign one word for this trade it's this: Interesting.
There's no telling how things will pan out, but you must give the St. Louis owners and front office credit for going out and making a big move near the deadline. The old owners would have never made this trade, or any of the trades we've seen from the Blues in the past year. This is a gutsy move which hopefully will yield a big, shiny, silver return.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
