Saturday night was a good one for J.T. Miller, as he produced a couple of primary assists and helped the Vancouver Canucks beat the high-flying Edmonton Oilers 3-2. His two helpers ended a points drought of five contests, as he was awarded the Third Star of the Game.
What made this performance even more impressive, was that Miller managed it despite the ever increasing speculation and uncertainty about his future in Vancouver. Or perhaps he played as well as he did, because of the speculation and uncertainty.
Certainly, it now seems more like than ever that it's just a case of when and not if the 2024 NHL-All-Star is traded to another team. Especially when you listen to what the highly respected Elliotte Friedman said on the latest edition of Sportsnet's Saturday Headlines:
"There was a time over the past 24 hours that J.T. Miller was not going to play (against the Oilers). He was going to be held out of the lineup, because talks were progressing on a trade, I believe that team to be the New York Rangers. I don’t know exactly what happened, but that trade is off right now."
One of the key parts of those comments is when Friedman said "right now", which alludes to any potential trade not having entirely off the table. Further, this is not the first time the Rangers have been linked with Miller, with them clearly interested in obtaining the highly-skilled centre for quite a while now.
In this respect however, it would seem that the Canucks are at least in a position where they don't just have to rely on the Rangers, if this is indeed the end of the road for Miller in Vancouver. As Friedman said:
"Earlier this week the Canucks sent out a note warning teams about tampering, saying that nobody's allowed to talk to any of (their) players without permission in advance. I believe now at this time, some teams do have permission to talk to Miller. (I'm) not sure who it is, but I've heard that there are some teams that have been granted permission to him."
With everything noted there, it sure does sound as if the Canucks have decided to 'side' with Elias Pettersson over Miller in the ongoing rift between the two superstars. However, in case there is still any doubt, Friedman also said:
"I heard this week that Pettersson -- who does not have no-trade protection yet (unlike Miller) -- has told the Canucks he would like to stay, and I think their preference is to do that."
As we've written before, we truly didn't believe Miller and Pettersson could not resolve their differences for the good of the team. However, we also thought that if the situation really was beyond repair, that it would be the latter who would leave, due to his aforementioned lack of a no-trade clause for this season, combined with also being a longer-term and more expensive contract burden.
That it is Miller who is all but likely to be moved, can be interpreted however people wish, but it still seems shocking in some respects that we have reached this point. At the same time, it's clearly contributed to the Canucks' issues in 2024-25, with them looking nothing like the team which last season totalled the third-most points in franchise history.
Miller was understandably weary of talking about the impact of the whole situation, when he was inevitably asked by the media following the Oilers game. As per Iain MacIntyre of Sportsnet, he said:
"Yeah, I guess. I don't really know what to say, to be honest. I don't have a good answer for you. I'm just trying to focus on game to game."
As for other players on the team and how they feel about the situation, offseason signing Jake DeBrusk at least, would prefer to keep the band together. Also as per MacIntyre, he said:
"I'm happy he was playing for us tonight. I've been here for 45 games. You know, I signed here (from Boston as a free agent) for a reason. I signed here to either play with Millsy or Elias. My main thing was to play with those two guys. So I don't want (a trade) to happen. I don't want them to leave."
You get the sense that a lot of the Canucks players, and indeed the fans, would prefer both players stay in Vancouver. However, all indications now point to this no longer being possible, with Miller specifically singled out as the dead man walking.