Report from the Rink- K’Andre Miller 11/09/18

Good winter time of day everyone, it’s your local Dinosaur giving you a Report from the Rink in Madison, Wisconsin. Last night I had the pleasure of watching my University of Minnesota Gopher Men’s Hockey team beat the Wisconsin Badgers 3-2 in the first game of the weekend series. But that is not what you probably care about. What I am here to do is write you lovely people a letter about our 22^nd overall draft pick K’Andre Miller and let you know what I saw last night in terms of his physical and hockey traits.

K’Andre is everything they touted him to be; he’s big, fast and can hit anyone without slowing down. He also has around a 9 or 10 foot reach with his stick. Let me start with how small he makes everyone on the ice look. I do not honestly think anyone else came up to his eyes and most dudes were up to his chin at best. On skates he may actually be 6’ 10” which is absurd for how he moves on the ice. The speed he has for someone of that size is pretty impressive and to put it in rangers term he is at slowest one notch below Brady Skjei and at best his equal. That is pretty quick for a defenseman. In one play last night I watched him try to pass the puck to a teammate from the blue line to about the center of the circle. The kid missed his pass but it did not seem to matter too much as K’Andre basically appeared next to the puck after I had looked away for a half second. You can tell this dude used to play wing because he skate like someone 8 inches shorter than him.

Lastly I wanted to hit on his reach a little before I get to the section about how he played. There was a few points where I honestly thought he was going to miss an assignment because he was a bit further away than a normal defenseman, but it really doesn’t matter when your arm is 3 and a half feet long plus a 6 foot long stick. He poke checked people from 8 feet away pretty regularly as I honestly got scared when he was in the neutral zone and the Gophs were trying to take it up the ice.

Look at this MAN

Since I am no prospect expert I will just tell you what I saw. K’Andre is interesting because you see the amount of talent he has to be a wing but to also be a defender. He was playing on the 2^nd D pairing (as a freshman), the 2^nd PP unit, and the penalty kill. At all times he looked poised and that he knows what is going on. You can tell this kid is smart on the ice since he always seems to be in the right place at the right time. He also has once hell of a shot which he showed a couple of times especially on his PP unit. He always seemed to make the most of the plays he could be involved in and did well with setting up plays when he took the puck up the ice. He also does not look nervous about playing any spot a defender should be able to play.

Now for the less good depending on how you look at it. He is ridiculously raw as a defender. Right now in college that works fine because he outclasses most other dudes with his smarts and his physical skills. I can see that he knows what he needs to do but some things that a natural defenseman should do without thinking are not second nature to him yet. I see this as an opportunity however. No matter how much it pains me to say it, Wisconsin knows how to develop players and they obviously see his ability at defense. If he can mold himself into a good offensive defenseman I can see him following in the footsteps of a Brent Burns, although I do not want to comment on his ceiling (that is for Drew). This is only the beginning of his third season playing defense and he already looks like it has been much longer than 2 seasons in terms of ability.

All in all I see a very bright future for K’Andre in college and in the league.