Wednesday was an important day in the world of hockey, as Canada, the United States, Sweden and Finland announced their rosters for the upcoming 4 Nations Face-Off tournament. By extension, it was an important day for the Canucks and their fans.
That's because one of the players selected for the United States roster, was none other than Canucks alternate captain, J.T. Miller. As most people associated with the organisation are well aware, he's been on an indefinite leave of absence for personal reasons since Nov. 19.
It had been an eventful season for Miller even before the announcement by the Canucks about his leave of absence. Among other things, he was involved in a heated practice scuffle with an at-the-time struggling Elias Pettersson, while speculation suggested he was dealing with an unconfirmed injury which was compromising his own performances.
On the subject of speculation, there was plenty surrounding why the 31-year-old had to take a leave of absence in the first place. Some of the unsubstantiated rumours included talk of an extramarital affair, a fallout with head coach Rick Tocchet, and mental health issues.
Rutherford unimpressed with all the wild speculation
Canucks president Jim Rutherford was understandably upset about the rumours doing the rounds. As per Patrick Johnston of The Province, he said:
"Don’t start making stuff up on someone in his situation. That’s disrespectful. People that do this for fun, or for a living, just go back to making up trade rumours."
Whatever Miller has been dealing with, it's been notable and refreshing about how much support he's been getting from the organisation. This includes Tocchet and general manager Patrik Allvin.
Tocchet admitted he misses Miller, both professionally and personally. The coach knows how much the forward means to the team, but also appreciates that there are things which are more important than hockey.
The same goes for Allvin. As per Nicholas J. Cotsonika of NHL.com, he said:
"As we said before, as an organisation, we’re supporting J.T. going through this. I believe he’s going to come back as a better player and make our team better. Over the last three, four years, J.T. Miller has been one of the top players in the League."
Miller anticipated to return soon
Allvin added that he expects Miller to be returning to the Canucks relatively soon. This makes sense, otherwise why would he have been selected for the United States roster?
United States general manage Bill Guerin, who holds the same position for the Minnesota Wild, added more credance to this. Also as per Cotsonika, he said:
"I have spoken to J.T. J.T. is a wonderful guy, a high-end competitor, a high-end player. I don’t know the specifics of what he is going through, but I do know when you are going through something like that and you need a leave of absence, what you need is support, people behind you and people in your corner, and that’s what we are. We are behind J.T. Miller, and we are there for him, and he’s going to be a part of this team and a big part."
Despite all of this we would add two reasons for caution, just in respect of how soon Miller will actually return. The first is that the Canucks will not put him under any undue pressure to rush back; he will be back as soon as he feels better.
The second reason relates to the 4 Nations Face-off tournament, which doesn't actually start until Feb. 12, i.e. still more than two months away. Even allowing for Miller needing to spend some time training with the United States prior to the tournament, we wouldn't be at all surprised if he doesn't return to the Canucks until the beginning of next year.