Buffalo Sabres: Ryan Miller snubbed from outlet’s recent ranking

Ryan Miller is one of the best players to ever put on a Buffalo Sabres uniform. But that didn’t stop one ranking from recently snubbing him.

Brevin Monroe of The Hockey Writers recently outlined their Top 3 from the Buffalo Sabres “Buffaslug” Era, and they rolled with Thomas Vanek, Derek Roy, and Jason Pominville. Admittedly, this was a remarkable group, as they scored a combined 824 points throughout the infamous logo’s era.

But if we are talking overall players as opposed to exclusively skaters and goaltenders, Ryan Miller has got to be part of that list. To Monroe’s credit, they mentioned Miller in passing toward the end of the article, but he not only deserves a spot in the Top 3; you can make the case that Miller was the best overall player of the era.

During his time in a Buffaslug jersey, Miller earned NHL All-Star honors once, played in the 2007 All-Star Game, finished in fourth for the Hart Trophy, and he won the Vezina. Miller also compiled 151 wins and 15 shutouts. He also never allowed over a 2.73 GAA during that time frame, and his overall save percentage sat at roughly 0.916.

Former Buffalo Sabres goaltender snubbed from recent rankings

Again, Pominville, Roy, and Vanek were incredible players during this time, and they definitely deserve Top 3 consideration, but there should be an odd man out here given Miller’s four stellar season inside the crease. Miller was also inducted into the Buffalo Sabres Hall of Fame, and the team also retired his number, 30, in a ceremony last season.

Overall, Miller more than deserved a spot on the list, and the only real reason I can think of why he was snubbed could be that Monroe was only thinking of skaters as opposed to both skaters and goaltenders – though I did not see any specification of such in the article. And this isn’t to say that it was a bad list, as most Buffalo Sabres fans would echo what I said earlier, that Vanek, Roy, and Pominville all deserved consideration.

But you can argue that Ryan Miller fueled the Buffaslug era more than any of the aforementioned names. And at the absolute least, he was a Top 3 player during this frame.

Source: Sabres’ 3 Best Players From the “Buffaslug” Era by Brevin Monroe, The Hockey Writers

(Statistics provided by Hockey-Reference)