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Kevan Miller is not the problem for Bruins, but he does illustrate the problem

We’d link to some of the things Bruins fans were tweeting last night about Kevan Miller, but this is a family blog and we’d get in trouble.

To be sure, the 28-year-old had a tough time at MSG. He was on the ice for the Rangers’ winning goal, which came late in the third. Earlier in the period, he’d been on for the tying goal, too.

And so Bruins fans vented about Miller on social media, while CSN New England’s Joe Haggerty wrote the following:

Kevan Miller is a perfectly fine and rugged bottom-pairing defenseman that brings toughness, and can survive well enough against other team’s bottom two forward lines. But he has struggled all season when charged with stopping the other team’s best offensive players, and it has really started coming to a head over the last month.

Now, Haggerty’s point was not to pick on Miller. It was to show that this Bruins roster has some significant holes.

Because here’s the thing about Miller. His pro career has actually been a tremendous success, given his resume. Most undrafted college players don’t play 122 NHL games. They don’t play in the NHL at all.

Miller -- a pending unrestricted free agent with a cap hit of just $800,000 -- has logged the fourth-most minutes among Bruins defensemen this season. Only Zdeno Chara, Torey Krug, and Adam McQuaid have played more. And McQuaid is hurt right now.

The reality is that this was always going to be a challenging season for a Bruins blue line that, in the last couple of years, has lost Johnny Boychuk and Dougie Hamilton in trades that didn’t return a single roster player.

It’s why Jack Edwards recently said the defense “is in a crisis right now as far as a mid- to long-term outlook. There’s no alpha dog on the way.”

In other words, Miller isn’t the problem. He only illustrates the problem. And that’s on GM Don Sweeney to fix.

OK, fine, one tweet:

Related: Sweeney explains Hamilton trade