Veteran checking forward Drew Miller has been with Detroit’s AHL affiliate in Grand Rapids for just about three weeks.
While he likes it there, he’s more than ready to move on.
“Hopefully I get traded,” Miller said, per MLive. “I want to be in the NHL - everyone wants to be there - so we’ll see how it goes.”
Signed to a one-year, $1.025 million deal last summer, Miller had five goals and six points through 35 games in Detroit this year before getting demoted on Feb. 6. He said he thought he played “pretty well” with the Wings, but his minus-10 rating and diminished ice time (just 10:27 per night) may suggest otherwise.
All that said, he could be a decent deadline pickup.
Scooped off waivers from Tampa Bay seven years ago, Miller flourished during his time with the Red Wings and developed his niche as a defensively responsible forward that logs prime shorthanded minutes.
He didn’t miss a single game from 2013-15, appearing in 82 contests each season while racking up 15 and 13 points, respectively.
Miller was also one of the Red Wings’ better shot-blocking forwards and a staple of the penalty kill.
He, of course, isn’t the only potential deadline move for GM Ken Holland. Detroit projects to be a seller for the first time in a quarter of a century, and could part ways with the likes of Thomas Vanek, Brendan Smith and Steve Ott.