HW 2011 Prospects: Jonathan Miller

Hockey Wilderness has decided to rank their 30 favorite prospects in the 2011 NHL Entry Draft and will analyze each and every one of them. So on draft day, you'll have a good sense of who's who.

With each post, you will get to understand what type of player he is, and how he can help the Wild. You'll understand his strengths, flaws and get to understand what type of player he'll develop into.

The HW's Rank - The average rank of several of our favorite available rankings, weighted appropriately.

Summary Scout Notes - A broken down version of comments offered by each service. To read the whole explanations, click on the source site and search.

Now, introducing USA U-18 center Jonathan (J.T) Miller :

J.T Miller

#11 / Center / USA U-18

Height: 6-1

Weight: 198

Born: Mar 14, 1993

Don't forget to check out the Hockey Wilderness 2011 Draft Page as well. Just click on the picture.

History And Accomplishments:

2009-10 U17 WJC Gold Medal

2010 USHL Entry Draft - 302nd Overall, 21st round (Youngstown Phantoms)

2010-11 U18 WJC Gold Medal

2010-11 U18 WJC Top 3 Player on Team

2011 Committed to North Dakota

HW's Take:

J.T Miller confused many earlier on the season. He has all the tools: skating, size, offensive skills, defensively skills. However, the points never came for a prospect that was so highly regarded.

Now, all of a sudden, in the U-18 Tournament, he finally started to produce the way he should with 13 points in 6 games. He kept his game simple and things started to happen.

However, was it too little too late?

He will going to the well-known University of North Dakota next year and will have time to find that consistency. But on draft that is only around 2-3 weeks away, some teams will be scared off of him as a prospect. On the other hand, some teams picking mid to late round will see his tools and have faith in that Miller will continue his performance from the U-18s throughout his college career and into the NHL.

HW's Projection

2nd-3rd line two-way center

Summary Scouts Notes

For full explanations, click on the links:

B2011DW

has all the physical tools and skills to be a high-end NHL prospect ... very good skater with acceleration and agility ... very good stickhandling skills and a nice array of shots ... a slick puckhandler who can make an array of moves ... has the vision to make pinpoint passes, and is a fine puck distributor ... he's always willing to throw a hit or take the hit to make the play ... he's got to work on tendency to disappear for stretches and resist trying to get too cute with the puck in the offensive zone

The Scouting Report

reliable 2 way forward ...  a very strong, powerful skater ... uses his speed to help him both offensively and defensively ... possesses the puck skills necessary to contribute offensively ... as the ability to get to loose pucks as well as separate the puck from the carrier seemingly at will ... has strong puck skills ... an extremely hard worker ... is very dedicated to his end of the ice ... lacked that consistency leading to questions about his hockey sense

Video Evidence

J.T Miller 2 goal vs Russia at 2011 U-18WC (2011-04-17) (via nhldraftvideo)

Where Does He Fit With The Wild?

Apparently, he can play right wing as well.

I guess this is getting little redundant for many of you, but he's a forward with offensively skills. Might not as be as flashy as others but the Wild need something.

Good Choice At #10?

To continue the question, is it too little too late?

For me, yes it is. 

I like from what I hear about Miller. But one good tournament is not enough for me to pick him as high as #10. Now, if we were picking #20 or #30, then I would consider.

But with the #10, we have better options

How Does He Look As A Wild?

Comment away!