By ANTHONY PUCIK
Look out, NHL, because the St. Louis Blues just might have solidified themselves as the new Stanley Cup favorite. Friday afternoon, the Blues traded goaltender Jaroslav Halak, forward Chris Stewart, prospect William Carrier and two picks to the Buffalo Sabres in exchange for goaltender Ryan Miller and Steve Ott. Halak, Stewart and Ott are all good NHL players, but the big story was Miller. Buffalo, which is in a bit of a rebuilding stage, has been trying to shop Miller for the entire year. Rumors have been circulating about the potential for Miller to get traded even earlier than this year. This deal was fair for both sides, but I think Miller and the Blues won in the end.
The St. Louis Blues have been one of the best teams in the NHL for a while. They’re fighting with the Blackhawks atop the Central Division in the Western Conference and are one of the top five teams in the league points-wise. They are top five in goals per game, top five in least goals allowed per game and in the top 10 on both the power play and penalty kill. The one thing they lacked over the past few years, however, was a solid, consistently healthy goaltender.
The tandem of Halak and Brian Elliott proved to be great for St. Louis during the last few seasons, but neither of them were truly a number one. Goaltending proved to be the Blues’ downfall in the playoffs. They would either both underperform or the Blues would choose the colder goaltender, which would lead to an early exit. With Miller they should no longer have that problem. Miller is a proven goaltender, former Vezina Trophy winner and a two-time All-Star. He is the elite goaltender that the Blues have been lacking in years’ past. They have played well thus far with their usual tandem of Halak and Elliott and they will improve now that Miller is their main goaltender, which can easily put them as one of the favorites to win the Stanley Cup.
This was not only a good move for the Blues, but for Miller as well. Although he has been one of the top goaltenders in the league for years, Miller has not been able to perform in the playoffs often because the Sabres are usually not good enough to make it, or are an extremely low seed and eliminated early despite having Miller between the pipes. Now, on a much more balanced and talented team, Miller not only has a chance to show off his skills in the playoffs, but do so with a team that has the potential to make a Cup run.
While the Sabres do get very nice pieces in Halak and Stewart, along with Carrier and two future picks to help build the team, the benefits of Miller and Ott for the Blues will be beneficial for them in the present and coming years and put them in a great position to be Cup contenders.
Anthony Pucik is Assistant Sports Editor at The Fordham Ram.
