Canucks acquire J.T. Miller from the Tampa Bay Lightning

The Canucks have swung a trade to open up day two of the NHL Entry Draft.

The Tampa Bay Lightning were needing to some moves to get make their salary cap situation a little better and it appears that the Canucks were there to add J.T. Miller.

At this moment, there is no word on the exact return but Brendan Batchelor from Sportsnet 650 reported that it does not include the 40th overall pick

J.T. Miller has four years remaining on his deal with an AAV of $5.25m per season. Miller saw his role diminish with the Tampa Bay Lightning and suffered from a 4% shooting percentage this past season, so it was easy to pinpoint him as a piece that the Lightning could move out to give them some breathing room under the salary cap ceiling.

With that in mind, Miller has done well at 5 on 5 play but has thrived on the man advantage. It’s a clear upgrade to the Canucks top six and fills a need the organization had. He is 26 years old but the cap hit isn’t prohibitive and he should be able to thrive alongside Elias Pettersson and Brock Boeser or Bo Horvat.

The Canucks are sending the 71st overall pick today, Marek Mazanec, and a conditional first round pick in 2020 or 21, which is as follows: