Former Vancouver Canuck forward Brad Richardson weighed in on the rift between JT Miller and Elias Pettersson when he joined Shane O’Brien and Scottie Upshall on their podcast Missin Curfew:

“Let me tell you this, and I’ll be super honest with you about this: – I was in the dressing room with those guys. I love JT, love him. He’s a f***in animal. But, I even told him, ‘You’re too hard on this kid. You’re too hard on him. I know, you’re saying exactly what I think. But he’s a kid that, when you’re on him, on him, on him, he’s going to shut it down. I told him, like, ‘Hey, you’re going to lose this guy if you keep doing it.’ That’s what I said to him. And hey, JT is the man. But there is a lot of tension, and something’s going to give. And I’m not saying you have to love every guy on your team. It helps. But something is going to give there. So, we’ll see.”

Richardson spent his final season in the NHL with the Canucks in 2021-2022. He played in 17 games, scoring two goals and two assists for four points in 10:53 minutes of average ice time. That season, Pettersson and Miller (and Boeser) played 121:46 minutes of 5-on-5 ice time, scoring just two goals when on the ice together.

In that season, Pettersson scored 32 goals and 36 assists for 68 points in 80 games, while Miller had the best season of his career, scoring 32 goals and 67 assists for 99 points.

Pettersson is currently out with an injury. In his absence, Miller has three assists in two games. When Miller took his leave of absence, Pettersson scored two goals and 13 assists for 15 points.

Head Coach Rick Tocchet and Captain Quinn Hughes already confirmed this, but Richardson gives us a little more insight into the situation. There is clearly something going on between the two, as former players are now weighing in on the rift and detailing what is really going on in the locker room.