Maple Leafs: No More J.T. Miller Rumours, As He Signs With Canucks

The Toronto Maple Leafs have long been rumored to have interest in J.T Miller, but he is now off the board permanently.

The Canucks have signe J.T Miller to a new contract with a cap hit of $8 million per season (per CapFriendly) and it is not going to age well.

Miller has inked his extension as a 29-year old, meaning the Canucks will be relying on him to maintain his quality until past his 37th birthday.

By contrast, the Leafs may pay Tavares more but his deal expires at 34 years old`

Toronto Maple Leafs Made the Smarter Bet

The other key difference is the fact that John Tavares had proven himself a consistent performer with the New York Islanders. Seldom did he drop too far below point-per-game there; a level of consistency that followed him to Toronto.

J.T. Miller may just have had a career-best year of 99 points, which outshines Tavares’ career-best in 88 points in the 2018-19 season, but it might still prove a flash in the pan.

After all, he had one near point-per-game season to his name prior to this year and both the New York Rangers and the Tampa Bay Lightning have previously allowed him to move on.

The Vancouver Canucks are hedging their bets on the back of just one truly impressive campaign. By contrast, the Toronto Maple Leafs took an educated leap of faith based on a much more proven track record.

Love it or hate it; when you compare some of the deals that are being handed out around the league (Tage Thompson also comes to mind), the John Tavares deal isn’t, on its own, anywhere near as bad.  In fact, the Tavares deal is pretty good, since he gives the Leafs the best 1-2 punch in the NHL, and has, so far, aged liked a fine wine.

Tavares’ numbers don’t match up to the likes of Mitch Marner and Auston Matthews, but they don’t have to – those guys are on a completely other level.

In fact, they compare best with William Nylander, who earns $4 million less and continues to bring value even with the defensive deficiencies of his game.

Absolutely the Maple Leafs have plenty of their own cap issues, especially with the cost of John Tavares, but they’ve not made a rash decision like the Canucks may have made with Miller.

Only time will tell if J.T. Miller continues to get better with age, or whether the Canucks will be desperate to buy-out this deal in five years’ time; my money is on the latter.