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The Meadville Tribune, Pa.
Lyons' Look: Ryan Miller was snubbed for who?
- Story byThe Meadville Tribune, Pa.
- Lyons' Look: Ryan Miller was snubbed for who?
The Hockey Hall of Fame announced its 2026 class on Monday and it is a strange one. On the one hand, you have Carey Price, Patrice Bergeron, Cindy Curley and Brian Burke as 100%, no doubt inductees. But then, there is Pekka Rinne and Keith Tkachuk, two very questionable inclusions.
As questionable as the Tkachuk inclusion is, the one I want to focus on is the Rinne one.
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Rinne being included blocked my favorite player, Ryan Miller, from being inducted. I think that is a crazy decision, so I will set out to prove why Miller should have made the Hall of Fame before Rinne.
The facts
A lot of people assume that the Hockey Hall of Fame only considers a player's NHL career, when that is simply not the case. So, it is only fair in this assessment to take a look at both players' entire careers.
Being born on different continents, of course, comes with a different path to the pros. Miller went the NCAA route, playing three seasons at Michigan State, while Rinne played in the U20 SM-Liiga, before jumping to the Liiga proper over the course of five seasons.
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In his three seasons in college, Miller became one of the best college goalies of all time. Miller is second in NCAA history with a 1.54 goals against average (GAA), second in save percentage (SV%) with .941, second in shutouts with 26, tied for sixth in wins with 73 in 106 games played and just for fun, tied third in goalie points with six. These stats naturally led to him earning a load of awards.
• NCAA (CCHA) Goaltender of the Year x3
• NCAA (CCHA) First All-Star Team x2
• NCAA (CCHA) Champion x2
• NCAA (CCHA) Tournament MVP x2
• NCAA (CCHA) Player of the Year x2
• NCAA (West) First All-American Team x2
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• Hobey Baker Memorial Award (Best player in college hockey)
• Jim Johannson Award (USA Hockey College Player of the Year)
• Hobey Baker Memorial Award Finalist
• NCAA (CCHA) All-Rookie Team
• NCAA (CCHA) Second All-Star Team
All this saw Miller be named to team USA for the 2001 and 2002 IIHF Men's World Championship and be selected in the fifth round, 138th overall by Buffalo.
Over in Finland, Rinne posted U20 SM-Liiga's best playoff GAA (1.76) and the best playoff SV% (.939), before winning Liiga's top-league championship twice. As far as Rinne's pre-NHL career accomplishments, that is it. Rinne was selected in the eighth round, 258th overall by Nashville.
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In terms of pre-NHL careers, Miller has Rinne beat by a mile. To be fair to Rinne, the Liiga is essentially Finland's version of the NHL. Making the Liiga at a young age and putting up the stats he did is a testament to how good of a goalie Rinne was.
Even so, you can not deny what Miller did in the NCAA. Being able to be second in three of the most important statistical categories (and to hold second for 24 years and counting), along with all the individual awards, really puts into perspective what Miller did.
Before becoming full-time starters, both saw sizable time in the AHL.
In the AHL Miller won the Baz Bastien Memorial Award (best AHL goalie), made the AHL All-Star Game twice, was named to the AHL First All-Star Team and led the league in wins with 41 in 2004-05.
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In comparison, Rinne was also named to the AHL All-Star Game twice and posted the most wins with 36 in 2007-08.
Once again, Miller stays ahead of Rinne in career achievements. But, what people really care about is a player's NHL and international careers. So, in the best league in the world, how do the two stack up?
Miller and Rinne both were stars for chunks of their career, rather than being a consistent star. Despite not being stars through the duration of their careers, both players experienced some of the highest highs in short bursts.
Miller broke into the NHL in 2005-06 and came out running. He posted back-to-back 30 and 40 win seasons in his first two years as a starter, earning serious Hart, Calder and Vezina votes.
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Miller solidified himself as a consistent top 10 goalie, until 2010 when he ran the world.
Miller's 2009-10 campaign may be one of the best goalie seasons to not end in a Stanley Cup. Miller went 41-18-8, had a .929 SV%, a 2.22 GAA and five shutouts, to win the Vezina with 84% of the vote.
On its own, Miller's 2009-10 stats are good, but nothing crazy. His otherworldly performance came in the 2010 Olympics.
Miller went 5-1 with a .946 SV%, a 1.35 GAA and one shutout, en route to a silver medal, an Olympic All-Star Team nod, an Olympic MVP and he was named the best Olympic goalie.
All of these statistics are some of the highest in the history of the Olympics and adding them to his NHL regular season and Vezina win, puts his 2010 performance into the upper echelon of performances.
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After the 2010 season, the Sabres began to head into a rebuild, so Miller departed and found himself on awful Vancouver and Anaheim teams.
His wins suffered and the losses piled up, but his GAA and SV% remained near his average.
Miller retired in 2021 as the winningest American goalie of all time and 14th winningest all-time (at the time) with 391 wins.
Rinne came into the NHL similar to Miller, earning Calder votes right off the bat.
Rinne established himself as a top tier goalie right away, when, in his fourth season as a starter, he lead the league in wins with 43. He did this while facing 2153 shots during the year, which was most in the league.
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Rinne continued to have himself great seasons, finishing top three in Vezina voting three times, before he finally won it in 2017-18.
Rinne also had elite international performances, although he never made the Finnish Olympic team.
In the 2014 World Championship Rinne went 5-3 with a 1.88 GAA, a .928 SV% and three shutouts, on his way to being named as the tournament MVP and to the All-Star team, along with winning the silver medal.
The next year Rinne went 5-2 with a 1.69 GAA, a .927 SV% and three shutouts, en route to being named best tournament goalie.
Rinne slowly started to decline and retired as the winningest Finnish goalie and the 20th winningest all-time (at the time) with 369 wins. Rinne also potted a rare goalie goal.
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My opinion
With all the facts laid out in front of us, how could anyone say Rinne is even close to being more deserving than Miller to being in the Hall of Fame.
Miller's accolades and trophy case are overflowing compared to Rinne's.
Rinne only has a few things over Miller, a Stanley Cup loss and multiple Vezina nominations. So what?
Miller did way more with less. Getting to almost 400 wins (which he would have if not for lockouts and Covid) while playing on some truly awful Sabres, Canucks and Ducks teams is genuinely one of the most impressive feats in NHL history.
Miller's top five college career of all-time, combined with his top five Olympic performance, should get him into the Hall of Fame on their own.
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With all the added context, of Miller carrying tanking teams to wins, while Rinne got to play on some of the best-constructed teams of the 2010s, it really shows just how much more impressive Miller's career was compared to Rinne.
Miller finished his career as the all-time American leader in wins and is still debatably the best American goalie of all time.
Sorry to Rinne and the Finns, but the talent Miller had to beat out to even be near the top of American goalies is way more than what Finland has to offer.
Miller continues to be the most underappreciated goalie of all time and will be until he makes it into the Hall of Fame.
