In between segments during Hockey Day in Canada, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman gave an update on the Vancouver Canucks star forward JT Miller before the night game on Saturday night against the Edmonton Oilers.
“JT Miller, I expect who’s going to play tonight unless something changes at the last minute. But there was a time over the last 24 hours where JT Miller was not going to play. He was going to be held out of the lineup because talks were progressing on a trade. I believe that team to be the New York Rangers.
“Now, I don’t know exactly what happened, but that trade is off right now. So, there’s nothing close that would prevent Miller from playing, but things have progressed to a certain point where it definitely looked like he wasn’t going to play.”
The Rangers have had serious interest in reacquiring Miller, dating back two years back when the Canucks were first contemplating whether to trade him or Bo Horvat. The team ultimately chose to keep Miller, trading Horvat to the New York Islanders in exchange for Anthony Beauvillier, Aatu Räty, and a 2023 first-round pick, which was later dealt in a trade to acquire Filip Hronek from the Detroit Red Wings.
New York drafted Miller with the 15th overall pick in the 2011 NHL draft. The Ohio native spent the first six seasons with the Rangers, playing in 341 games, scoring 72 goals and 100 assists for 172 points. He was then dealt to the Tampa Bay Lightning along with Ryan McDonagh before ultimately being sent to Vancouver on Day 2 of the 2019 draft in exchange for Marek Mazanec, a 2020 first-round pick, and a 2019 third-round pick.
Miller has struggled recently, being held pointless over his past five games, holding a minus-five rating. The centreman has followed up a 100-point career year with just eight goals and 21 assists for 29 points through 34 games this season. Miller has had a tough year on and off the ice, as he missed 10 games during his leave of absence.
Donnie & Dhali’s Rick Dhaliwal highlighted that there has not been a request or demand for a trade from Miller or his camp:
Canucks general manager Patrik Allvin will have until March 7th to decide what to do on the trade front with JT Miller. The player does have a full no-movement clause and will have to waive it before he goes anywhere. However, with a trade close enough to have him sit tonight, this may be Miller’s last game as a Vancouver Canuck.