Welcome back to WDYTT, the only hockey column on the internet with a sense of finality.

Speaking of finally, it’s finally happened. The thing Vancouver Canucks fans were told was coming virtually all season long occurred, and it was the trade of JT Miller (and Erik Brännström and Jackson Dorrington) to the New York Rangers in exchange for Filip Chytil, Victor Mancini and a first-round pick.

But then, before the dust had even settled on that deal, GM Patrik Allvin and Co. then turned around and flipped that same first-round pick to the Pittsburgh Penguins (alongside Danton Heinen, Vincent Desharnais, and Melvin Fernström) for Marcus Pettersson and Drew O’Connor.

In the span of a few hours, the Canucks swapped out four players and two prospects for four brand-new players. It was practically a reupholstered Canucks lineup that took to the ice on Sunday against Detroit.

It may not be spring yet, but change is definitely in the air in Vancouver.

And, look, sometimes events happen in Canucks hockey that are so consequential, we just can’t reasonably ask about anything else in this column.

So, without much further ado, we’re getting right to the question-asking portion, and we all know where this is going. This week, we’re asking:

Let it be known in the comment section.

The Canucks made their decision. Your own decisions are below!

Ideally we don’t come to this and they both can somehow put this behind themselves. Choosing between Miller and Petey is tough, but I would chose to keep Miller. He has other aspects of his game that this team sorely needs. Grit and toughness. He drags his team into the fight. And he produces offensively. He makes about $4M less than Petey, his contract isn’t as long, in case either contract ages badly, and I bet we can get a better haul from trading Petey. Three coaches and multiple linemate options and I still keep hearing, “what is it going to take to get Petey going?” How much is enough waiting? What if he never gets going? Not to mention, it would make Shorty’s job easier calling games once D-Petey is a regular.

That’s an easy one and it’s EP, based on age, potential and personality.

Quinn is undoubtedly the Captain of the team and EP’s style fits the leadership better than JTM. If your C is more quiet, intense and hardworking, an A with a more brash shoot-from-the-hip loud personality doesn’t help. Some people look at the loudest voice in the room as the leader. If your going to be bumping players in practice or yelling on the ice, you better be up to your own standards always.

I like JTM and hope he stays, but two quiet leaders and one not-so-quiet doesn’t work in the leadership structure.

Picking between Pettersson and Miller has to come with so many caveats that honestly answering this question will be quite the task. First, I have a concern that trading one of these players when the issues have reportedly divided the room, wouldn’t be sufficient. But, for the sake of argument, I’ll assume that moving one of them fixes the issues we’ve seen.

Keeping Miller: he’s on a contract that has a near-100% chance of being an overpay in the final 2-3 years. He’s also the one who is reportedly incapable of managing his emotions. By pushing the chips in with Miller the window is now and only stays open for 2-3 more seasons.

Keeping Pete: he’s on a contract that already is 100% an overpay, but there’s also a better than 50% chance that he can get close to living up to it considering the growing cap and the issues around culture in the room slowing him down. He’s not a playoff beast, but his age and close friendship with QH should mean the window stays open for much longer and increases the chances of extending the only important player on the roster.

Decision: Keeping Pete.

Rationale: Despite Miller being the better play driver, the better playoff performer and the type of physical player fans love, his inconsistencies both on and off the ice, his contract, his age, and the fact that this scenario means we’ve traded QH’s closest friend, makes this the best choice imo. Having said that, how close any trade proposal gets to full value for either player would play a significant role in any competent person’s decision.

Pettersson, simply due to his age. And I think he will come back.

I choose the Canucks.

I think pretty much any take here is reasonable given the information available to people on the outside. Here’s what my strategy would be if I was in charge:

1) Confirm Pettersson is serious about wanting to be here.

2) Tell him you’ll agree not to trade him if he agrees to follow a new development program.

3) Trade Miller for max value, whatever the return. Futures can be flipped for center or D, it doesn’t have to be just one trade.

4) Trade Boeser at the deadline for futures.

4) Assign the Sedins to Pettersson, to attempt to recreate what they did at 27 when they became true superstars.

5) Use the accumulated assets from Boeser/Miller trades to try to reload around a core of Hughes/Pettersson/Demko.

To get rid of:

Miller: age, style of play, personal temperament.

Addition by subtraction, likely.

Miller….I’d send Petey to Montreal, even often-hurt Patrik would be an upgrade.

Management gets paid handsomely to make these decisions, but I will do my best to attempt to go through their thought process on this. I say Pettersson for the following reasons:

– Age. Miller has reached his peak, Pettersson is reaching his and has a nice 5-7 window of potential greatness

– EP40’s poor play is more directly tied to the rift than the other way around, and this is not hard to determine based on personality alone. EP40 will undoubtedly rebound once the drama has left the room. Everyone has been a work environment where one person adversely affects your performance. That stifling aspect of the work environment is lifted and you can go back to being yourself and your personal strengths and talent shine through.

– EP40 ceiling is higher. Players with his skill set and play away from the puck do not grow on trees.

– EP40 better fits in with the core as their Stanley Cup window opens again next year after the trade and the second pair of the defence is solidified.

Just my thoughts. I like JT Miller and he will make a difference for a contending team, but if one of them has to go, it’s JTM.

Pettersson is who I keep. I worry about how both will recover and play after this is resolved, but I mostly look at how Miller is older and only gives a couple of years for contending. The other factor is he’s also the guy who puts a lot – usually too much – pressure on others even when he doesn’t always commit to playing hard. We saw friction in the past, had the choice between him and Horvat, and we’re here again having to pick between Miller and another player.

You keep the younger player and move on unless someone blows you away with a deal.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion, and I understand the argument for retaining the ‘fire & brimstone, passionate, heart-on-your-sleeve’ personality that is one JT Miller. He gets chants at the arena. The average Lower Mainlander seems to connect with him better, because he demonstrates the feelings that many have when watching the games from their La-Z-Boy or at their local watering hole.

‘See! He’s just like us! He screams at his teammates when they refuse to leave the net on an attempt to go 6 on 5! I do that too! Pass the nachos!’

I agree that teams need JT Millers to drag teammates into the fray, especially when you have to play San Jose on a rainy Tuesday night in January and they may be more inclined to take it easy, looking more forward to a post-game CoD deathmatch.

All of those things are true… But here is the thing. JT Miller is 31, turning 32 by the end of the season. He has another six seasons at $8 Million per season. Management signed that deal, knowing full well that he would likely not be worth that contract by the mid-point, but realized that in an escalating cap world, they could live with the downside risk. They also know he has been hot and cold since his Canucks tenure began. Good season. Average season. Average season. Great season. Poor season Great season and here we are now – another Poor season production wise. He is not getting younger. He is a solid player, but is not going to sustain 1C play in this system.

Other side of the coin, Elias Pettersson is 26, has been a PPG player for his career. He is signed for $11.6Million AAV for the next 8 seasons. He has been the most reliable defensive presence among forwards for this team, despite being paired with players that benefitted from his presence in terms of extending their own NHL careers. He rarely gets to play with Quinn Hughes and still drives the best 5v5 xGF on the team. He has shown the capability to take over games and propel the team single-handedly to victory.

I understand that he has gone through a slump lasting close to 12 months (but this isn’t the first slump he ever went through due to other factors; wrist injuries, etc). It is a known entity that he is a different dude than the average hockey player. He is particular – remember the articles written about all the time he put into perfecting that ASG Hardest Shot clapper. He admitted that he couldn’t/didn’t train the way he would have liked to this summer due to a lingering injury (knee tendinitis). There was a disconnect between the team and the player on how serious it was. I can’t think of a recent time where that happened … oh wait. it happened literally three seasons ago, when Jack Eichel expressed a desire to try a procedure that hadn’t been previously attempted on an NHL player. And BUF tried to pull a ‘our way our the highway’ approach.

How did that turn out for them?

Keep EP. Trade JT.

For me, it’s more a case of proven value versus potential. Miller has been near or at the top of the scoring for Vancouver since he’s been here and is consistent (still second in team scoring at nearly a point-per-game this season). Pettersson is more about the potential – which is always an unknown: “will he live up to it and play up to the contract?” There is also the key factor of “irrespective of who their line-mates are, are they driving the line and producing?” Pettersson hasn’t done that since the Lotto line where he was the center and Miller was the winger (if the LL play together, it says a lot that Miller is the center).

You could keep Miller now, and look at trading him or moving on from him when his MNTC kicks in in a few years and you’d probably get more in a return for Petey if you looked to trade him.

However, age will be the factor and Allvin loves his fellow-Swedes – only a few days ago calls Petterson an elite player in the league having only had one100 point season and has had diminishing returns since.

Personally, I’d keep Miller as he offers more on the ice: power-forward, top centerman in the team, great faceoff player and more consistent. I find Petterson too immature (to use Allvin’s own words). If he couldn’t keep it together if he got upset at Miller’s attempt to get him going in practice (when all the Van media and fanbase was also on him to shoot more, and become more productive) then he’s too soft for the Vancouver market. I don’t see his eliteness coming to the fore any time soon, even if you do trade JT.

That’s my 2c.

Pettersson is the younger player and is more likely to turn things around.

Miller has passion but he is entering his declining years. In only makes sense to trade Miller now while he has value.

People keep talking about Miller’s age but conveniently forget that Pettersson is playing like a 36-year-old looking to coast his way to retirement. You trade the player that brings in the most value. If the Canucks can dupe someone into taking Pettersson’s contract with no salary retained in exchange for a young top-tier talent then I say they should pull the trigger. I think it’s ridiculous that two multi-millionaire athletes can’t put aside their egos for the good of the team, so they both should be sent packing.

Since the day Petey signed his contract, he plays like I would which is to say, terrified some 200-pound beast of a man was going to murder me along the boards. I don’t think I want to be anchored to him for the next half dozen years. Maybe a return like Cozens and Byram is enough for JT to drag us through a few rounds?

I dunno, people blame his last playoffs on injury, but I trust and respect Tocchet who didn’t seem to think anything of Petey’s injury.

I hope I’m wrong because the Canucks are almost certainly going to keep Petey based on age and potential but…

I’ll play along with the question, although either/or is too simple.

There are a myriad of reasons why I’d keep Pettersson over Miller. The most compelling is Miller’s behaviour has negative impacts way beyond Pettersson even if EP is the primary target. No workplace functions well when someone’s emotions are spilling out over everyone. It’s worse when it’s a senior person in a leadership position.

While Pettersson may be the preferred keeper that is not an endorsement. His poor performance goes way beyond playing with Miller. His strength and fitness are inadequate. I’ve watched him in warmup in person and it’s awful. If the Canucks can’t figure this work ethic out, they shouldn’t keep Pettersson either.

EP’s regression is what scares me the most. Not just his stats, but watching the games live at Rogers, he is a shadow of his first two years in the league. No separation, hands have hardened, shot velocity has come way down, and the release has slowed. The other thing is that he doesn’t seem to rise to the occasion when the moment gets bigger. If there is not a long-term injury, then you have to believe that he’ll return to form in the regular season grind, but I don’t have faith that he will ever become a playoff performer the way JT is built. President’s trophies are won with guys like EP, Stanley Cups are won with guys like JT. JT’s timeline is shorter, so if management is willing to go all-in because they feel they have a window of contention now, then I’d pick JT.

Given that none of us really know what it’s like in the dressing room, I will say the best response will depend on that…and the real answer could be either guy or trade both!

Social stuff aside, you most certainly stick with JTM. EP is a great player, but one that you get more back from in a trade. His salary is an anchor for someone who doesn’t take the whole team on his back and for someone who needs specific linemates to excel.

EP is younger, but JTM’s approach to the game is really where we need the rest of the team to go to be successful in the playoffs. EP is a great individual player, but we need a team that’s built with four physical lines.

If I was heading into the final round of the playoffs. It’s definitely JT Miller. He’s a proven warrior. Unfortunately, this team will be lucky to get to the playoffs and is one-and-done come playoff time. So the team has to think about the future. Which means keep Petterson. I personally prefer to keep them both. Miller brings an edge the team needs, but his age isn’t the best fit. Pettersson brings high end vision when he’s on his game, but he has a large contract that he isn’t living up to. Really it’s probably Hughes that should be making this decision. He’s really the ONLY guy management truly wants to keep.

The question is “if you could keep only one…”. I think that in many ways is the worst solution. I think either both have to go or both should stay. Either you believe in this core or you don’t. If you do believe, then keep both…notwithstanding that people think that isn’t feasible (which means you don’t believe). If you don’t believe, then you have to realize the feud goes beyond just those two guys and asking one faction to buy into the other is still a problem. It’s both or none IMO. They are both great players and will both be better players on different teams that aren’t the Canucks. Pettersson will fetch more in a trade than Miller so, if you have to keep one, keep Miller and get more by trading Pettersson.