After countless major injuries, Kevan Miller has decided to call it quits. The Boston Bruins defenseman announced on Instagram that he will be retiring from professional hockey. His explanation:
"Although my spirit for the game is there, unfortunately my body isn’t. My overall health and my family are now the priority. This was not an easy decision to make but it’s time to hang up my skates."
Miller, 33, played in 28 games for the Bruins this season and was scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent. A warrior for Boston through the early part of his career, he earned a four-year, $10M contract from the team in 2016 as a core piece of their defense. Unfortunately, he would never manage to play more than 68 games in a single season again. Since 2018-19 he has played in just 67 regular-season contests, missing the entire 2019-20 season due to injury. Though he worked desperately to return, the toll his body has taken over the years was obviously too much.
The Bruins will now have to look elsewhere for a replacement, though it seemed unlikely that they would commit any substantial resources to him for next season anyway. The team has five defensemen under contract already and has a contract negotiation with Brandon Carlo coming up. The team transitioned to a younger group this season after letting names like Zdeno Chara and Torey Krug go, so Miller was really the last vestige of the previous defense corps.
In 352 career regular-season games, Miller recorded 13 goals and 71 points. He also suited up 33 times in the postseason for the Bruins, averaging more than 20 minutes a night and scoring seven points.
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