Time to take inventory on Kevan Miller and the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad season.
Where to begin for the 31-year-old blueliner?
- Missed over a month of game action due to a broken hand — which he suffered while blocking a shot against the Oilers on October 18th.
- Just four games after returning, Miller missed another month of action due to a gruesome injury — as a puck to the throat led to cartilage damage to his larynx that sent him to the hospital up in Toronto.
- Miller played 25 games upon returning to the lineup at the end of December but then missed 16 games after suffering a torn oblique while getting hit into the boards against the St. Louis Blues on Feb. 23.
- Just three games into his return, Miller played his final game of the season — suffering a vertical fracture to his kneecap during Boston's penultimate game of the regular season against the Wild on April 4.
- Despite such a severe ailment, Miller fully expected to recover in time for the Stanley Cup Final, but while rehabbing off ice during the Eastern Conference Final, Miller suffered a vertical fracture to the same kneecap — ending his season for good.
“I think that was the hardest thing to swallow — not being able to help the guys," Miller said Thursday at Warrior Ice Arena. "That’s something that you dream about playing for. ...
That’s what keeps you up at night. It was a combination of being injured and watching. It was certainly tough. Super proud of the guys, there’s a lot of guys in here and everybody really laid it on the line and I only wish I was able to help. That’s something that I’ll live with. But I’m looking forward to turning the page and getting ready for this year.”
"I haven’t started skating yet, so I’ll be a little behind with that. ...
“Millsy is a big part of our group, especially against a team like that where he can make a big impact," Brad Marchand said of Miller's absence in the Cup Final. "He’s a great player. Anytime you miss guys like him that are tough and physical, can play a complete game — he’s jumping up into the play a bunch. He’s a very good skater. Really good defender. Plays some hard minutes. That’s tough to lose.”
Charlie McAvoy
Brandon Carlo
“It’s the nature to the injury," Miller said of his extended recovery timetable. "The first one was a vertical fracture that just takes less time than a horizontal fracture. That’s just the nature of how the body works. … The combination of having two surgeries close together and then at the same time, we’re just not going to mess around with it. I would say, to be totally honest with you, I feel a little ahead of schedule, but at the same time, I’m in no rush to push things back. We don’t want to come back at 99%, come back at 100% and be ready to go.”