J.T. Miller clarifies what he meant by his viral comment about the Canucks buying in
2 years ago
It’s no secret that things aren’t going well for the Vancouver Canucks right now.
Last week, a clip of Canucks forward J.T. Miller went viral, after he hesitated before giving a dispassionate answer of “I don’t know,” when asked if the Canucks were buying in.
Here’s the clip for those that haven’t seen it already:
Both local and national media picked up the clip and spent plenty of time talking about it, and for good reason. The clip appears to show a player who is clearly out of answers and is tired of trying to make excuses on behalf of his underperforming teammates.
But Miller cleared the air on Sunday in an exclusive interview with Thomas Drance of The Athletic.
“Yeah, I just think it’s pretty black-and-white,” said Miller when given the opportunity to clarify what he meant by his comment. “When our group shows up, we all play the other team tough, and we’ve done that a lot. Our record has shown us in as bad a light as it could. I don’t think one guy in that room thinks we’re a six-and-whatever team right now.Our penalty kill is starting to do better, our power play is getting looks every game — we’re just not finding a way to put one in the net. More games than not, we’re outplaying the other team, so I think I believe in the group. But that being said, when we buy in on a more consistent basis, we’re a better hockey team.That’s as a team. I’m not pointing fingers at one or two guys; I’m pointing a finger at myself, too. Everybody in a team has their moments, but I think when we play more consistent, we’ve shown that we can play with any team in the league.”
Miller also talked about his viral “we don’t know what we’re doing!” quote that was attributed to him at the practice the Canucks held on Thanksgiving Day, clarifying he was talking about a specific fun and light-hearted drill in a joking manner, rather than talking about the state of his club.
“In that moment, it was a new, fun drill we haven’t done before,” said Miller. “When I yelled, ‘We don’t know what we’re doing!’ it’s because I didn’t want us to start the drill when we don’t know what we’re doing. It was more of a funny thing versus our club doesn’t know what we’re doing. That’s not where we’re at as a group.”
“That was a positive day, and then we played one of our best games of the year the next day. We’re trying to build off of that. We’re not down in the dumps here; it’s not as miserable as it looks to everybody else. We’re just trying to move forward here.”
You can read Miller’s full quotes from this interview here.
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