By Jeff D'Andrea

Prospect Miller ready for a fresh start with Raiders

Aug 28, 2012 | 6:23 PM

Two years ago, Dallas Miller was considered a can’t-miss prospect.

Miller dominated Winnipeg Bantam AAA 14-year-old league despite being a year younger than the rest of the competition. He was among the league leaders in both goals and points with the Winnipeg Sharks and even made the Bantam 1 All-Star team.

As a result, Miller was highly rated by Western Elite Hockey Prospects, who ranked him 7th overall last July. The forward was referred to as both a phenom and a star while comparing his potential to reach that of Winnipeg products and current NHL’ers Jonathan Toews and Cam Barker.

But last season was anything but picture perfect for Miller. He played in just nine games into the season before quitting the Sharks and said he was unhappy with the team’s coaching staff that regularly benched him.

The forgettable year ended in a nightmare when as a member of the Mallard Stars, Miller allegedly two-hand slashed a linesman while being escorted from the ice in the finals of the Source For Sports AAA Hockey Challenge May 27 in Brandon, Man.

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It’s an incident that Miller would rather soon forget.

“I’ll put it in the back of my head, forget about it and hope I don’t think about it,” said Miller, one of 42 prospects at the Raiders rookie camp that started Tuesday. “I could use it as motivation.

“I just got to work hard, I got to get my cardio back up. I have to get my strength back up and I also have to get my intelligence back.”

Although they drafted him less than the month before the slash-incident on May 3, the Raiders are also willing to put the incident aside and move forward.

“We touched base with him right away and told him that it will have no barring at all on trying out and making the Prince Albert Raiders,” said Raiders head coach Steve Young. “Things do happen.

Obviously, that was a situation where we weren’t around, it wasn’t in our control so we put that aside and expect him to come here and compete.”

Miller said he appreciates how the Raiders have approached the situation and will look to take advantage of the opportunity being at Raiders camp.

“I’m pretty excited to be here, it’s pretty honourable to get drafted (after) not playing a full season,” said Miller. “My accomplishments are to make myself look good out there and try my hardest and make sure I can get invited to their main camp.

“I’ll try as hard as I can to prove that I’m a good player.”

Dale Derkatch, Raiders director of player personnel, said there’s a lot to like about Miller’s game on the ice. If everything works out and Miller can be the player he was two years ago, the Raiders could have found a gem in the sixth round.

“If it does work out that he can be a player in this league, he will probably be a very good player because he has very good attributes you look for in players,” said Derkatch. “I watched him actually this summer, he’s a really good skater and he’s strong on his skates.

“He’s a big player, he’s already 6’, 185 pounds so size isn’t a problem. He’s got good skills and a good shot.”

Like all 15-year-olds, Miller will not be eligible to play a full season with the Raiders, but could play a maximum of five regular season games.

Also attending the Raiders rookie camp is Leon Draisaitl, the second overall pick in the CHL Euro Draft, as well as 2011 prospects in Reid Gardiner, Tim Vanstone and Spencer Meyer who all have legitimate shots of making the team.

The new crop of prospects drafted this spring will also get their first crack at a WHL camp, including third overall pick Brendan Guhle, 23rd overall selection Nick McBride and 41st pick Matteo Gennaro.

Gage Quinney, an undrafted listed player from Las Vegas, NV, impressed at spring camp but will not report to training camp this year because of personal reasons, according to Young.

Out of the 42 rookies, 15-17 players will join the main camp which starts on Friday.

Injuries

Connor Hobbs (67th overall) and Caleb Seaman (177th overall) will both miss this year’s training camp.

Hobbs suffered a concussion at the Team Saskatchewan’s U16 camp July 29-Aug. 2 in Wilcox and although he was cleared, Hobbs then suffered some neck pain and headaches.

Seaman fractured his wrist at the Prince Albert Mintos training camp and has his hand in a cast.
Derkatch said both players will miss the camp for precautionary reasons.

jdandrea@panow.com

Twitter: @jeff_dandrea