When the Vancouver Canucks brought veteran defenceman Aaron Miller from the Los Angeles Kings as a free agent last summer, they knew exactly what they were getting. They were bringing in a guy with experience, a guy who could help clear the front of the net and make life easier for Roberto Luongo, a guy who could play in all situations, and a guy who was good in the room. So far this season, Miller has been exactly what the Canucks expected.

But in addition to his defensive exploits, the 36-year-old native of Buffalo also brought with him a claim to fame: no other active player in the National Hockey League has gone longer without scoring a goal.

"Hah! I don't remember it. It was like freakin' 10 years ago," the affable Miller told the Straight with a laugh. "Honestly, I can't remember it."

It was November 27, 2003, in Phoenix. Miller was a member of the Los Angeles Kings when, almost four years ago, he beat Coyotes netminder Sean Burke with his only shot of the hockey game.

"Must have been a game-winner," Miller quipped when reminded of the occasion. Not quite. The goal came late in the first period and cut the Coyotes' lead to 2–1.

"Top shelf, as far as you know. Breakaway, backhand, roof," he claimed. "Do you know differently?"

A search of YouTube–which wasn't even around when Miller last scored–turns up no evidence of the play in question, so maybe it was the goal of the year, but more than likely it wasn't. Whatever "the goal" really looked like, even Miller wouldn't have thought then that his drought would last so long. If nothing changes by the end of the month, it will have reached 170 games, spanning parts of four seasons and a lockout. Toronto's Wade Belak (December 20, 2003) and Pittsburgh's Brooks Orpik (October 22, 2005) are Miller's nearest competition in this turtle derby, but both are riding streaks that pale in comparison and are only in the 130-game range. Colorado's Karlis Skrastins, Minnesota's Martin Skoula, and Florida's Branislav Mezei are the only other players in the league who have currently gone more than 100 games without scoring a goal.

Although Miller maintains a sense of perspective about his lack of production, he insists it's not for a lack of trying. He fully admits that he's a defensive defenceman and says that's where his priorities lie, but Miller has on three occasions scored five goals in an NHL season, and once–as crazy as it sounds–even scored twice in the same game. So he does know there are two ends in every rink.

"I still have a responsibility to get pucks to the net and help any way I can. If they go in, fine. I guess the longer it goes, the harder it is [to score]," he says of his drought. "But I know what role I'm in. I'm playing with offensive guys, and I've got to think defence first all the time. And that's fine with me. I think all teams need guys that do different things, and playing defence is my job, first and foremost."

Miller says one of the reasons for his lack of offence is that it's not just goalies he has to beat anymore. In today's NHL, there's almost always a bevy of bodies at the edge of the crease, and it's virtually impossible to get shots on goal–let alone in the goal.

"The D are open, but there's no room; there's just no lane," Miller says. "So you either try to bomb it and get it through, or try to get it to someone off to the side of the net. Guys do an unbelievable job of blocking shots now. You just try to take a step one way or the other and throw it at the net and hope. The winger used to stand up with the defenceman, more or less, so there was more opportunity to go down low and get involved a little bit more. Now we try to stay back, and teams collapse five guys in the slot and there's a lot of confusion. Some guys are better than others, and there's a lot better than me at getting pucks through."

That's clearly supported by statistics from the first few weeks of the new NHL season. In the Canucks' first eight games, Miller managed exactly two shots on goal (and they both came on opening night). In that regard, he was meeting the coach's not-so-lofty expectations.

"We don't expect much from Aaron Miller [or Willie Mitchell] in terms of them generating offence," says Canucks head coach Alain Vigneault, cutting his stay-at-home defencemen considerable slack. "But we do expect them to get their shots through, and that's an area we've been working on lately, and I think we're going to get better."

The coach remains hopeful that his team will get some unexpected offence, and Miller wants to believe it too. But the Canuck blueliner isn't losing sleep over the fact that he's never been–and, at this stage of his career, never will be–mistaken for Bobby Orr.

"You know what? I don't even think about it [the drought]. Honestly, I don't care about it," he says. "If that's it [he's scored his last goal in the NHL], it won't be the end of the world, but I'd like to help out any way I can."

And if somehow a puck leaves his stick and finds its way through the maze of legs in front of the net and past a goalie, Miller figures it's highly unlikely that he'll break into an elaborate goal celebration. "We'll see," he says, trying not to get ahead of himself. "It'll probably just be a big sigh of relief."

Should that goal ever come, he may want to grab the puck for his personal collection. Based on the past four years, Miller's next goal will almost certainly be his last one. Unless, of course, he gets on a hot streak–and starts scoring every other year.