Is Ryan Miller the same goalie?

In the early 2000's Ryan Miller was arguably the best goalie in the NHL, he was the back bone of some of those great Sabers teams under Lindy Ruff. But Miller has fallen off over the last few years, age and news teams have led him into obscurity. Miller has struggled since joining Vancouver as a free agent in 2014. The narrative has been his best years were in Buffalo and has been in decline since the 2010 Olympics. He joined the Canucks on a three year 18-million-dollar contract, he was supposed to lead the Canucks back to the playoffs. He had been one of the most sought after goalies at the trade deadline when he was dealt to the St. Louis Blues to help them in their cup hopes. Miller had a decent run with the Blues helping them make the playoffs. Unfortunately, they fell short in their cup hopes and were knocked out of the playoffs in the first round. 

Miller has been known over his career as one of the dialed in goalies in the league. The biggest issue with this it has been easier for teams to get him off of his game and out of that state. The Milan Lucic hit in 2011 is great example of this, it showed that Miller is mentally fragile. It brought to the forefront that Miller could be taken off his game by touching him. Lucic and Tootoo did it to Miller and for those games he wasn't the same player. This season Miller has started 37 games going 12-16-8, posting a 2.61 GAA, and .916 save percentage. While Miller's numbers aren't terrible they are far from his Vezina performance in 2010. 

Miller's steady decline can be attributed to many different things, one of those things is the lack of diversity in his game. Jamie McLennan was on the Hockey PDOcast at the beginning of the season talking about many of the goalies in the NHL. One of the goalie was Ryan Miller, McLennan said that age and Miller's lack of change in his game has lead to his decline. Miller is still stuck in his 2010 game, his moments have slowed over time and his post play has slowly declined. This is shown by on the website War on Ice it shows that Miller has been very good in tight where shots are coming from close range. But he has struggled with the long range shots which most likely means that his angles are off. 

Couple decline with injuries and rebuilding Canucks team it's no wonder that Miller isn't the same goalie. With another year left on his deal and Jacob Markstrom emerging as the goalie of the future it will be interesting to see how the Canucks handle this. Miller is still the veteran and will get the majority of the work this season, but the Canucks may look to shop him over the summer. When his latest contract is up Miller will be 37 years old, not many teams would take long term flyer on a goalie that age. But teams looking for a veteran goalie to take over the work load for a season or two could give Miller a chance. It will be interesting to see how everything plays out and if Miller can round himself back into his elite form.