Last season saw J.T. Miller take his game to new levels, as he led the team with a career-high 103 points, which were also ninth-most among all NHL players. He was selected to his first NHL All-Star Game and named as the Canucks' most valuable player by fans.
As a result of all this, Miller was expected to build on this in 2024-25, as part of the Canucks' quest to become a consistent playoff contender with genuine Stanley Cup aspirations. Unfortunately for everyone concerned, after a decent enough start things don't seem to be going quite as planned for the 31-year-old.
This was exemplified in Saturday night's embarrassing 7-3 defeat to the Edmonton Oilers, with the Canucks giving up the most goals of Rick Tocchet's tenure as head coach in Vancouver. On an individual level, Miller just didn't look like his usual self.
A listless display against the Oilers
As noted by The Athletic's Harman Dayal (subscription required), things looked particularly damning on Miller’s five-on-five shifts versus the Oilers. The Canucks were out-chanced 9-1, outscored 3-0, and didn’t generate a single shot on goal.
While no one denies Connor McDavid is probably still the best player in the game, you still expect better from Miller. Let's not forget he played well against the Oilers superstar last season, including producing 13 points in 11 games.
So what's going on with the Canucks' alternate captain? Well, one theory which would make a lot of sense, is that he's playing -- or at least attempting to -- through an undisclosed injury.
Little explanation of Miller's injury
Earlier in the season, Miller suffered an injury while taking the game-opening face-off against the Philadelphia Flyers. He was forced to go to the locker room and while he did return shortly afterwards, he only took one more face-off during the remainder of the game.
As a result of this, the East Palestine, Ohio native's status for the next game versus the Chicago Blackhawks was up in the air. However, when Tocchet was asked about the nature of the injury, all he would say was that Miller was dealing with stuff, which doesn't get much more vague.
In the end Miller did play, and actually went on to produce a season-high three points in the 6-3 win against the Blackhawks. However, you now have to wonder if this just masked whatever he's dealing with?
Let's not forget that the 2011 15th overall draft pick sat out the Canucks' entire preseason, save for the final game against the Oilers. Now he did still participate in practices, but it was speculated that he was dealing with a small ailment which the team didn't want to risk making worse prior to the regular season.
Cause for concern or not?
Purely based on the information at our disposal, you can theorise the Canucks at no point specifying an actual injury alludes to no genuine concern. However, devil's advocate seems to indicate something must be up, just based on how Miller has been playing of late.
Are the (alleged) injuries from preseason and the Flyers games different, or linked? Either way, the situation could be starting to take its toll on a player renowned for his toughness, highlighted by only missing four total games over the past three regular seasons for the Canucks.
If Miller is indeed attempting to play through an injury, this is commendable and not surprising, given the leadership qualities he has repeatedly displayed for the Canucks. Additionally, he probably feels like he needs to be out there, with Elias Pettersson struggling himself, Daniel Sprong being traded, and Brock Boeser out indefinitely through injury.
Ultimately though, at some point Miller has to put himself first over the team -- no matter how alien this concept might be to him -- if he is indeed being compromised by an ailment of some kind. It will be interesting to watch how things develop in the coming games for him, beginning with Tuesday night's home clash with the Calgary Flames.