Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

Miller explains decision to sell Buffalo townhouse

Detroit Red WIngs v Buffalo Sabres

BUFFALO, NY - DECEMBER 4: Ryan Miller #30 of the Buffalo Sabres warms up before a NHL game against the Detroit Red Wings at First Niagara Center on December 2, 2011 in Buffalo, New York. (Photo by Tom Szczerbowski/Getty Images)

Getty Images

Back in April, when it was reported that Sabres goalie Ryan Miller had put his Buffalo townhouse up for sale, a lot of people saw it as a sign he’d be dealt this summer.

After all, Miller had just one year left on his contract and, at the time, the Sabres were putting the finishing touches on their second straight season without making the playoffs. The trade rumors were already out there.

But Miller never was traded. And yesterday, he gave a pretty good explanation for putting his house on the market.

“The sale of the place, that played out a little differently than I thought it would,” Miller told the Buffalo News. “People are either going to believe this or they’re not, but I’ve watched a lot of guys in this town sit on a residence that they’ve had after they’ve left town for a couple years. After I got married, I decided at a certain point that house wasn’t going to be good enough for a family at a certain point. I identified a time I was going to sell it, and it was going to be in the last year of my deal so I didn’t get stuck with it.

“I thought it was a smart business decision to at least have it on the market in the last year of my deal so I didn’t get low-balled. People, they know you’re out of town, they know they can low-ball you. That was my thinking. Then the way it played out, of course, I just had to laugh to myself and say this is not going to be looking good to the people of Buffalo.”

Miller’s future with the Sabres is still up in the air, as it is with teammate Thomas Vanek. At this point, both players seem to be taking a wait-and-see approach when it comes to the possibility of signing a contract extension. (As in, they’ll wait to see if the Sabres are any good.)

Oh, and if you were wondering, according to the newspaper, Miller is renting a place to live downtown after selling his townhouse for a “hefty profit.”