NEW YORK — In the Vancouver Canucks’ season opener on Oct. 9, which feels about three years ago, J.T. Miller completed a Gordie Howe hat trick by scoring the tying goal late in the third period of what turned into a 6-5 overtime loss to the Calgary Flames.
In the first period, Miller injured Flames forward Kevin Rooney with a thunderous and legal check, and a short time later made himself accountable in a fight with Anthony Mantha.
The crowd at Rogers Arena went wild, chanting “J-T Mil-ler! J-T Mil-ler!” during the ensuing television timeout, just as fans had roared for him throughout the playoffs last spring. Miller later joked that if he ever struggled, the chant would be: “J-T booo!”
He will have to wait until next season to find out when he visits Vancouver with the New York Rangers, a game that can be seen on Sportsnet and Sportsnet+, starting at 10 a.m. PT / 1 p.m. ET.
Madison Square Garden can be a tough crowd, too, but Miller is unlikely to be booed Saturday when he faces the Canucks for the first time since his blockbuster trade back to New York on Jan. 31. But neither is he likely to be serenaded by chants from an adoring crowd, who have seen the Rangers lose seven of their last nine games to imperil their playoff chances.
“They created a lot of special memories for me and my family, especially in the playoffs last year,” Miller said of Canucks Nation during an interview this week with Sportsnet. “I have three young children and one of their favourite memories was the fans chanting my name, probably something I’ll never get back. But their honesty, their passion … I feel like I pride myself on a lot of the same things (the fans) do. They’re obsessed with their hockey there, and obsessed with their team, and they’re always blunt. Not to like that would be pretty hypocritical.”
Miller’s appearance in a Rangers’ jersey, facing several close friends as the Canucks desperately push for a playoff spot that could save their season, will be stark and sobering proof about how shockingly the winter unfolded in Vancouver.
Trading Miller was unthinkable before this season. It wasn’t his grassroots popularity that made him invaluable, but a formidable power game that drove the Canucks’ attack and made Miller almost unique as an NHL centre.
But one month into the season, with the Canuck landscape already pockmarked by craters from various explosions, Miller took a leave of absence related to his mental health. And less than two months after his return, he was gone, traded on Jan. 31 for third-line Rangers centre Filip Chytil (now injured), defence prospect Vittorio Mancini and a first-round pick that was flipped to the Pittsburgh Penguins for second-pairing defenceman Marcus Pettersson.
Canucks general manager Patrik Allvin told reporters after the trade that Miller “probably needed a fresh start in where he was in his life and in his age, and with his family, (and) that this was the best option for him and the Vancouver Canucks.”
“That’s fair,” Miller said. “Leaving Vancouver, it wasn’t really something I ever even thought about. But there was a lot (that happened). It has been a long year for me, personally, away from the game. You sit back and try to evaluate what it means to you. Remember, we are just playing a game. I understand that it is your job.
“I don’t want to get into too much detail, but, yeah, I think a fresh start was needed. I’ve got nothing bad to say about the Canucks or Vancouver as a city. We loved it there. It felt like home and that’s all you can ask for. But, unfortunately, this is a business and in the business end of things, it was getting difficult.”
Three days before the trade, Canucks president Jim Rutherford laid bare the dysfunction in the team’s dressing room.
In an interview with the Globe and Mail, Rutherford confirmed for the world the discord between Miller and Elias Pettersson and said the Canucks could not continue with both players on the team. In hindsight, Rutherford was probably bracing the market for the Miller trade and its modest returns.
“The whole me-and-Petey thing, it’s still blown out of proportion,” Miller insisted. “I get what Jim was doing. I have a ton of respect for Jim, and I talked with Jim after that (story). I wasn’t mad; I understand everybody has a job to do. Clearly, if me and Petey were better than we were, obviously this might be different. But it’s also not as bad as everybody thought, either. It’s just an easy thing for everybody to run with. There was just a lot of moving parts.”
Miller said the Rangers have made easy his transition back to New York, where he has 18 points in 20 games. He said familiarity with the organization helped his return, and he is grateful to Rangers general manager Chris Drury and owner James Dolan “for taking a chance on me again.”
A product of the Pittsburgh area, Miller was a first-round pick of the Rangers in 2011 and spent seven years in the organization before New York traded him to the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2018 as part of a major retooling.
Just 94 games later for Miller, former Vancouver general manager Jim Benning surrendered a first-round pick to the Lightning to acquire the centre as a foundational piece for the Canucks.
“It feels like a lot of space in between,” Miller, who just turned 32, said of his time between Rangers tours. “I feel like I’m such a different player than I was the last time I played in New York. I feel like I was in a different stage in my career (back then), and a little confused. I got traded two times in a year and a half. And then I had six years in Vancouver. It was a while, but I feel like everything I learned … has helped me.”
Miller declined to provide any further details about his 10-game leave last fall or a specific explanation for why, in the end, a trade was the best thing for him and the Canucks.
But he was always open with us about his ongoing struggle to manage and channel emotions, to control his temper and set a positive example for teammates. And as we’ve said before, it is naïve to think whatever issues Miller was dealing with during his leave of absence suddenly vanished upon his return to the Canucks.
“I mean, J.T. Miller, the reason why he’s good in the league is that he’s super competitive, and he’s walking the fine line at times,” Allvin said in his post-trade press conference. “And I also think that he’s been dealing with a lot of other things. I wouldn’t just say it’s about two players; it’s about 23 men in a dressing room. You hold each other accountable. We’re not running a country club here, we’re running a professional hockey team, and the players demand a lot from themselves and each other.”
“I know I’m a good person and a good teammate,” Miller said.
Then, asked about the tumult of the Canucks’ season, he said: “If there was a more casual, laid back, happy-go-lucky guy going through it, it might have been fine. But I ain’t it.”
Miller scored 437 points in 404 games for the Canucks and through two playoff rounds last spring led them to the franchise’s best season since 2011.
