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J.T. Miller

West Notes: Miller, Chernyshov, Innala

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J.T. Miller and the Vancouver Canucks could be nearing a resolution to the speculated rift between himself and Elias Pettersson. Rick Dhaliwal of The Athletic reported earlier that although the Canucks haven’t officially asked Miller to waive his no-movement clause, they’ve been involved in plenty of trade activity today regarding Miller.

David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period added that despite the increased trade chatter surrounding Miller today, he’s still expected to suit up for Vancouver tonight as they’re set to take on the Edmonton Oilers. Neither report mentions any specific teams engaged in these trade talks with the Canucks indicating a deal is still in the very early stages.

Still, it now stands to reason, that absent any additional reporting regarding Pettersson, Miller will be the odd man out in Vancouver. Only time will tell if moving Miller is the best choice moving forward for the Canucks but it’s the easiest one. He’s making $3.6MM less than Pettersson, has less time left on his contract, is more physical, and has recently shown the capability to amass more than 100 points in a given season. Miller is the prototypical forward, so to speak, that any playoff-destined team would love on their roster.

Other notes from the Western Conference:

  • According to Curtis Pashelka of San Jose Hockey Now, an underrated forward prospect for the San Jose Sharks, Igor Chernyshov, is finally returning to the OHL’s Saginaw Spirit after a long way back from offseason shoulder surgery. Chernyshov, who was a fringe first-round prospect of the 2024 NHL Draft but was eventually selected with the first selection of the second round, is set to embark on his first year of hockey in North America after scoring 13 goals and 28 points in 22 games last year for the MHL’s MHK Dynamo Moskva.
  • Shortly after securing an important victory against the Dallas Stars, the Colorado Avalanche announced they’ve reassigned forward Jere Innala to their AHL affiliate, the Colorado Eagles. It is unclear whether Innala will participate in Colorado’s game against the Minnesota Wild on Monday, or if Valeri Nichushkin will take his spot on the roster. Innala provided two hits while tallying zero points in 7:42 of today’s game against the Stars.

Rangers Rumors: Zibanejad, Trocheck, Jones

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In the written edition of his “32 Thoughts” blog Tuesday night, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet expanded on a report yesterday from Josh Yohe of The Athletic that the Canucks turned down a one-for-one trade proposal from the Rangers that would have seen the clubs swap struggling top-six fixtures J.T. Miller and Mika Zibanejad.

Friedman “believe[s] he’s correct — with some semantics.” Those Miller-for-Zibanejad rumors, which started when the former took a brief leave of absence from Vancouver for personal reasons, were vehemently shut down by New York. At the same time, Canucks president of hockey operations Jim Rutherford quickly said that his team wasn’t interested in trading Miller, at least not while he was still on leave.

Fast forward to today, and all indications point to Miller and star pivot Elias Pettersson at least entering trade conversations amid speculative reports of a locker-room clash between the pair. But, as Friedman wrote, the Rangers didn’t quite come as close to landing their desired swap as it may have seemed at first glance.

Friedman doesn’t believe that Zibanejad, who has a no-move clause, “was ever approached” by Rangers management about accepting a move to Vancouver. There were likely other moving parts in the framework of the deal being discussed, namely up-and-coming Blueshirts defender Braden Schneider, that New York wasn’t willing to move to make happen. Friedman adds this is the second time the Rangers have rejected an attempt from the Canucks to acquire Schneider, now in his fourth NHL season after being selected 19th overall in 2020.

There’s more from Friedman on the Rangers’ trade plans leading up to the deadline:

  • Should they enter an aggressive sell-off mode, New York’s highest-value trade asset would be center Vincent Trocheck. He’s having a more productive season offensively than Zibanejad, albeit slightly, with a still-disappointing 27 points in 40 games. Like Zibanejad, he carries a no-movement clause but costs a far more affordable $5.625MM against the cap through 2029 than Zibanejad’s $8.5MM cap hit through 2030. Nonetheless, Rangers general manager Chris Drury won’t entertain the idea of trading him, Friedman reports, going so far as to suggest he could be Jacob Trouba’s successor to the captaincy after the latter was traded to the Ducks last month.
  • One player definitely on the block for the Rangers is defenseman Zac Jones, who Friedman reports the Rangers have permitted to speak to other teams about a longer-term fit. The pending restricted free agent was expected to land a more prominent role this season with Erik Gustafsson out the door in free agency, but he’s still been a healthy scratch for a good portion of the campaign – suiting up in 26 of the Blueshirts’ 40 games. Jones, 24, has a goal and seven assists for eight points with a plus-two rating, ranking second among Rangers defenders behind Schneider’s plus-six. He’s averaging a career-high 16:42 per game when dressed, seeing expanded power-play usage but posting mediocre possession numbers.

Vancouver Canucks Fielding Offers On Elias Pettersson, J.T. Miller

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There was one major talking point in tonight’s rendition of ’Saturday Headlines’ with Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman. Friedman reports the Vancouver Canucks are fielding offers on forwards Elias Pettersson and J.T. Miller with all options currently on the table.

Friedman asserts the Canucks are “definitely” looking at the market for both forwards but it appears to be a stronger version of due diligence rather than active trade talks up to this point. There’s a possibility neither are traded, one is, or both are traded and Friedman wasn’t willing to commit to any of the options. Still, the trade chatter has gotten to the point of Vancouver telling interested parties they’ll need an NHL-caliber center as a part of the return package for either player.

Due to the complexity of any hypothetical trade involving Pettersson or Miller, there haven’t been many legitimate connections to any teams. Friedman pointed out that neither player had requested a trade from the Canucks although Miller would likely prefer to return to the United States.

There appears to be something brewing in Vancouver though. In a recent interview with Iain MacIntyre of Sportsnet, the general manager of the Canucks, Patrik Allvin spoke candidly about Pettersson saying, “Petey has shown up to this point that he is an extremely talented, quality player that could and should be a No. 1 centre. I believe in him. I believe that he’s capable. (But) he needs to mature and understand that there are certain expectations and it does not get easier. And you need to face the music when things don’t go well. Is it (a trade) possible? I guess I would say anything is possible.”

It doesn’t take much scrutiny to notice the apparent rift between them. This year alone, Pettersson scored two goals and 15 points in the 10 games Miller missed from mid-November to mid-December. Throughout 23 games playing with Miller this season, Pettersson has eight goals and 13 points in 23 contests. Miller has been a consistent performer regardless of Pettersson’s availability but he may hold less value in Vancouver given he’s five years Petterson’s elder.

Miller has more control over a potential trade given the no-movement clause in his contract and Pettersson’s not starting until next year. Still, Pettersson’s contract may be more difficult to move given his $11.6MM salary compared to Miller’s $8MM price tag.

It will be an interesting saga to see play out regardless. This is an issue that the Canucks could continue an attempt to solve internally. However, being no stranger to moves of magnitude, GM Allvin may take it upon himself to create a resolution via trade.

Canucks To Activate J.T. Miller From Non-Roster List

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Canucks center J.T. Miller told reporters Thursday that he’ll return to the lineup tonight against the Panthers after missing the last 10 games while on personal leave (via Brendan Batchelor of Sportsnet 650).

Vancouver announced over three weeks ago that Miller, who led the team in scoring last season with 103 points, was taking an indefinite leave of absence. Trade rumors immediately popped up regarding the 31-year-old pivot. While there may have been legitimate interest from some parties, including the Rangers, a move away from Vancouver was never something the player or the team even remotely considered, president of hockey operations Jim Rutherford said last week.

Miller was off to a semi-slow start offensively. He still managed six goals and 16 points in his first 17 games of the year, but he was tracking toward finishing under a point per game for the first time since the 2020-21 season, and his 18:24 ATOI was his lowest since arriving in Vancouver via trade in 2019. Elias Pettersson shifted up to center Vancouver’s top line between Jake DeBrusk and Brock Boeser in Miller’s absence, erupting for six multi-point games in his last 10 outings and compiling two goals and 13 assists for 15 points in total.

As such, head coach Rick Tocchet may very well opt to keep that red-hot trio together. DeBrusk has been scorching hot on Pettersson’s wing with 10 goals in 10 games without Miller, while Boeser has seven points in eight games since returning from a suspected concussion. It wouldn’t be surprising to see Miller take reps between Dakota Joshua and Conor Garland on the second line, bumping Pius Suter back down to a more comfortable third-line role.

The Canucks currently have two open slots on the active roster, so they won’t need to make a corresponding move to accommodate Miller’s return. They did, however, make one move earlier Thursday, reversing a paper transaction that sent defenseman Mark Friedman to AHL Abbotsford yesterday. He’s back up and will be available tonight versus Florida.

Canucks Won’t Trade J.T. Miller, He Has Not Requested A Trade

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Rick Dhaliwal of Donnie and Dhali tweeted today that Vancouver Canucks president Jim Rutherford has said publicly that the team will not trade forward J.T. Miller, and he has not requested a trade out of Vancouver. Rutherford added that the Canucks are standing by Miller and that he believes it is fair to speculate on the situation, but people need to be realistic about what is going on.

Patrick Johnson of The Province writes that Miller is looking to get himself right while he is away on personal leave, and there is no date determined yet for when he will return. Ultimately, that date will be decided by Miller, according to Rutherford. Miller’s focus is on getting back to where he was mentally, and hopefully, he can do so.

Since being traded to Vancouver in June of 2019, all Miller has done is put up stellar offensive numbers, averaging over a point a game with 418 points in 381 games. Miller’s numbers have improved during his time with the Canucks, and he hit several career highs last season, posting a career-best 103 points (37 goals and 66 assists) in 81 games. He has also eclipsed 30 goals in each of the last three seasons.

This year, Miller started the year with six goals and 10 assists in 17 games.

Rangers Have Shown Interest In Canucks’ J.T. Miller

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The Rangers have “recently inquired” with the Canucks about the trade availability of star center J.T. Miller, a league source told Arthur Staple and Peter Baugh of The Athletic.

Those discussions have likely taken place in the last week or so amid general manager Chris Drury putting up an open-for-business sign on Monday, with Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reporting that he’d made both captain Jacob Trouba and three-time 30-goal scorer Chris Kreider available for trade. Four straight regulation losses and some concerning shot-attempt and scoring-chance numbers at 5-on-5 throughout the season have set Drury’s urgency dial to high as he tries to avoid last year’s Presidents’ Trophy winners slipping out of a playoff spot.

There’s still a fair bit of cushion for the Rangers, who have slipped to a wild-card spot but have games in hand on the three teams ahead of them in the Metropolitan Division. But they’re now on pace for 98 points after finishing with 114 a season ago and have a 29% chance of missing the playoffs, per The Athletic.

That could mean the Rangers are willing to leverage one of their aforementioned trade chips, or more likely struggling center Mika Zibanejad, to bring Miller back to where he started his NHL career. But as Staple and Baugh write, it’s “a long shot” to make a midseason move for such a rich contract – Miller is signed through the 2029-30 season at an $8MM cap hit. Moving Zibanejad, who’s signed for the same length at an $8.5MM cap hit, would likely require some salary retention amid his poor start and may be impossible regardless, thanks to his full no-movement clause.

There’s also the question of whether Miller, who also has an NMC in his contract with Vancouver, would entertain a move back to Manhattan. The 31-year-old does have six goals and 16 points in 17 games this season with a +1 rating but is currently out indefinitely while on a leave of absence for personal reasons.

Even though Miller is on pace for his lowest offensive output since the 2020-21 season, he would still be a significant upgrade over Zibanejad’s performance this year, which would likely require a larger package heading Vancouver’s way than a one-for-one swap. Zibanejad has been a relative non-factor with just four goals in 21 games, only three hits, and the worst possession numbers of his 14-year career by far with a 42.8 CF% and 40.9 xGF% at even strength.

While Drury’s initial inquiry likely won’t lead to a move, at least not imminently, it’s likely not the last time he’ll gauge Miller’s availability this season. As Baugh and Staple write, they also had interest in a reunion at the 2022 trade deadline when he was slated to become an unrestricted free agent the following summer, but he ended up sticking in Vancouver and inking his aforementioned extension.

Miller, selected 15th overall by the Rangers back in 2011, had 72 goals, 100 assists and 172 points in 341 games with the Blueshirts before he was traded to the Lightning at the 2018 deadline. After being flipped to Vancouver in the 2019 offseason, he’s had over a point per game in four of his five full seasons as a Canuck.

Pacific Notes: Miller, Vladar, Geertsen

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The Canucks have moved forward J.T. Miller to injured non-roster status, relays Thomas Drance of The Athletic (subscription link).  The move allows them to open up an extra spot on their 23-player roster if they need to use it although doing so would require an LTIR placement for Thatcher Demko first, something they’ve been hesitant to do so far.  Miller is currently away from the team on an indefinite leave of absence that started earlier this week, a big hit to their attack as he has 16 points in 17 games so far.  Unlike a typical IR placement, the injured non-roster designation does not carry a minimum amount of time for a player to be on there so if Miller was to come back quicker than expected, he could be reinstated to the active roster immediately.

Elsewhere in the Pacific:

  • Kent Wilson of the Calgary Herald feels that goaltender Daniel Vladar is Calgary’s most logical trade candidate at the moment. The 27-year-old is off to a nice start to his year after recovering from hip surgery and has a 2.65 GAA with a .906 SV% in his first nine starts, numbers that are well above league average.  With several teams looking for goalie help and an affordable $2.2MM cap charge, the Flames could get a decent return for his services.  Vladar is a pending unrestricted free agent and while it could make sense to try to keep him partnered with Dustin Wolf beyond this season, AHL netminder Devin Cooley is off to a dominant start in the minors (1.63 GAA, .947 SV% in ten games) and is making a push to get a look at the NHL level sooner than later himself.
  • Golden Knights winger Mason Geertsen released a statement through AHL Henderson’s Twitter account announcing that he is now cancer-free after being diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma last November. The 29-year-old missed a month last season following the diagnosis but has been able to play regularly since then.  Geertsen has three assists and 19 penalty minutes in eight games so far with the Silver Knights this season and is set to become an unrestricted free agent this summer.

Canucks’ J.T. Miller Takes Leave Of Absence, Out Indefinitely

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The Canucks will be without star forward J.T. Miller indefinitely while he takes a leave of absence for personal reasons, general manager Patrik Allvin said Tuesday.

“Right now, our sole focus is making sure that J.T. knows the entire organization is here to support him,” Allvin said in a statement. “Out of respect to J.T., we will have no further comment at this time.”

Miller, 31, is tied with Brock Boeser, Elias Pettersson and Pius Suter for the team lead in goals with six. He’s added 10 assists for 16 points in 17 games, placing second on the team in scoring behind defenseman Quinn Hughes’ 18 points.

Despite recording five points in his prior three games, Miller was benched by head coach Rick Tocchet for a significant portion of Sunday’s loss to the Predators and played a season-low 11:41. On the whole, his 18:24 ATOI is his lowest since Vancouver acquired him from the Lightning in 2019, and he’s on pace to record under a point per game for the first time since the 2020-21 campaign.

The Ohio native is still one of the Canucks’ best offensive players, though, and his 53.7 CF% at even strength means he’s controlling the most possession he has since his first season in Vancouver. Miller is in the second season of the seven-year, $56MM extension he signed in September 2022 to keep him in British Columbia through the 2029-30 campaign.

He’s a major loss for the Canucks, especially without any indication when he’ll be back in the lineup. With Boeser on the shelf with a head injury, he’d been centering a makeshift first line between Suter and rookie Jonathan Lekkerimäki.

Vancouver recalled winger Arshdeep Bains from AHL Abbotsford in a corresponding transaction to give them 12 healthy forwards for tonight’s game against the Rangers, but they’ll still need to shift someone to center to replace Miller – likely Suter, while any of Bains, Danton Heinen or Dakota Joshua could shift into a top-six role at left wing. In order to open a roster spot for Bains, the Canucks returned defenseman Elias Pettersson to Abbotsford after recalling him Sunday for injury insurance. Pettersson didn’t make his NHL debut and instead sat in the press box for the loss to Nashville.

Bains, 23, has been ferried between leagues frequently this season but had spent the last week in Abbotsford as part of a demotion that the Canucks likely intended to be more permanent. He played in eight contests for Vancouver throughout the first month or so of the season, recording one goal, a -3 rating and a 46.9 CF% while averaging 11:30 per game.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Pacific Notes: Olofsson, Nurse, Arvidsson, Miller, Wright

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The Vegas Golden Knights should only be a few days away from the return of an injured forward. The organization announced they assigned forward Victor Olofsson to their AHL affiliate, the Henderson Silver Knights, for a conditioning loan. This confirms the Golden Knights are quickly expected to activate Olofsson from the long-term injured reserve.

Olofsson has only been on the team’s LTIR for approximately a week but hasn’t suited up for a game in Vegas for over a month due to a lower-body injury. He had scored three goals in his four games before succumbing to the injury while averaging 15:03 of ice time per game.

It’ll be interesting to see how much playing time Olofsson can manage once he returns from injury despite the strong scoring pace to begin the season. The Golden Knights will have a clearer picture of their roster construction once Mark Stone returns to the lineup but Olofsson may become a healthy scratch upon activation. He projects as an upgrade on the right wing as the lineup is currently constructed but the team might prefer continuity as they’ve risen to the top of the Pacific Division standings.

Other Pacific notes:

  • Jack Michaels, the play-by-play commentator for the Edmonton Oilers, confirmed today that defenseman Darnell Nurse is only expected to miss five to 10 days from the illegal check to the head from Toronto Maple Leafs forward Ryan Reaves this past weekend. Thankfully, the Oilers have a five-day break at the beginning of next week which should give Nurse ample time to recover. The Oilers will have a difficult time without him this week should he miss all four games with Edmonton deploying a subpar supporting cast behind Mattias Ekholm and Evan Bouchard.
  • In the same update from Michaels, he shares that the Oilers will also be without forward Viktor Arvidsson tonight. Tonight will mark the third straight game Arvidsson has missed with an undisclosed injury. When healthy, he’s scored two goals and five points in 16 games in his first year with the Oilers organization.
  • Through the first 16 games of the 2024-25 NHL season for J.T. Miller, he had been averaging 18:49 of ice time. It’s dropped by more than a third of a minute thanks to getting benched in the Vancouver Canucks’ loss to the Nashville Predators last night. In an explanation of the benching, head coach Rick Tocchet said, “I went with the guys I thought could get us back into the game.” (X Link)
  • Miller wasn’t the only notable benching last night with Seattle Kraken forward Shane Wright also enjoying some time on the pine. According to Kate Shefte of the Seattle Times, head coach Dan Bylsma said, “As the games have gone along here, I think Shane’s game has been trending in not the best direction. Really the message is: Take a reset, watch the game tonight, which he did, and get back focused on playing the way you can play.” Wright has only scored two points in 18 games for the Kraken this season and the recent message from Bylsma isn’t exactly a vote of confidence for the former fourth-overall pick of the 2022 NHL Draft.

Free Agency Notes: Gostisbehere, Quick, No-Movement Clauses

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As the defending Eastern Conference Champions start the 2023-24 NHL season, they will reportedly be without defensemen Aaron Ekblad and Brandon Montour. Both will be recovering from separate surgeries, and both are expected to be out for about a month after the season kicks off. Needing another defenseman aside from Gustav Forsling to manage the offensive load on the back end, David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period reports the team has an interest in unrestricted free agent, Shayne Gostisbehere.

A top-pairing of Gostisbehere and Forsling shouldn’t be expected to replicate the output of Ekblad and Montour, but those two would be serviceable for the first month of the season, and would even represent a superb top-four once Ekblad and Montour make their return. If the Panthers and Gostisbehere do come to an agreement, it will be interesting to see the term handed out, as the team currently doesn’t have any defenseman signed beyond 2024-25.

It wasn’t so long ago that Gostisbehere was considered a salary dump, after being traded along with a second-round pick in 2022 and a seventh-round pick in 2022, to the Arizona Coyotes for nothing but future considerations. After landing in the desert, Gostisbehere had an offensive resurgence of sorts, scoring 24 goals and 58 assists in 134 games with the Coyotes. At last year’s trade deadline, Gostisbehere was moved to the Carolina Hurricanes for a third-round pick in 2026. In a combined total of 38 games in Carolina, Gostisbehere scored three goals and ten assists split between the regular season and the 2023 Stanley Cup playoffs.

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