In a bit of both good and long awaited news, JT Miller returns to full practice with the Vancouver Canucks as of Wednesday, December 11, 2024.

Miller’s appearance at practice no doubt comes with a return to game action, and Wednesday’s practice should give observers some indication as to when that first game back might be. Given that Miller is meant to be a full participant in this session, we should also get some clues as to how head coach Rick Tocchet will be arranging his forward lines now that Miller is back in the mix.

But before we find out, we’ve got some ideas of our own to share.

The organization has been clear on one thing since Miller’s indefinite leave of personal absence began, and that was in its unwavering support of Miller. That support doesn’t end now that Miller is back on the ice.

So, how best to support a returning Miller? By putting him right back together with Brock Boeser, obviously.

The line of Boeser with Elias Pettersson and Jake DeBrusk have been fine since being assembled, but they’re not exactly setting the league on fire at 5-on-5, with four goals for and five against as a unit and control of only 42.31% of the scoring chances. That’s not good enough to be worth sticking to when one already knows that Miller and Boeser work best in tandem.

So, Boeser comes off Pettersson’s line and goes back to Miller’s.

The next question to answer is who gets to ride shotgun with Miller and Boeser. Does the team ride a hot hand, or go back to something that’s worked before?

In this case, the answer can be ‘both,’ in the form of Pius Suter. Not only has Suter played a good chunk of the previous season – including most of the playoffs – and the current season with Miller and Boeser, he also really stepped up his offence in Miller’s absence, going on a run of five goals and nine points in ten games.

Putting Suter back with Miller and Boeser offers stability and reliability. It also just plain offers a quality and effective two-way unit.

There are other candidates for the job. The team could try Danton Heinen there again in a bid to get him going, or give Nils Höglander another crack at the top-six. But Suter is the best fit, and that should probably make him the first fit, too. 

The team will almost certainly be taking Boeser off of Pettersson’s wing to put him back with Boeser. There’s little chance that, at the same time, they’ll strip Pettersson of another running mate.

So, Pettersson and DeBrusk are pretty much guaranteed to stick as a duo. The chemistry is undeniable, and the results are starting to pile up. The question becomes who to put with them, and the answer is actually fairly obvious: going right back to that line of Pettersson, DeBrusk, and Kiefer Sherwood.

The line’s run together was only really interrupted by Miller’s departure and the desire to keep Boeser in a scoring role. Otherwise, there was a lot to like about the DeBrusk-Pettersson-Sherwood connection. They’ve been on the ice together for six goals for and just two against at five-on-five as of this writing, and that’s across a span of more than 70 minutes. That goes along with a 63.53% rate of expected goals and a 62.50% control of high-danger chances.

The line works. Or, at least, it worked. And there’s no compelling reason not to see if it still works.

If the lines of Suter-Miller-Boeser and DeBrusk-Pettersson-Sherwood are making up the ostensible top-six, the rest of the lineup kind of falls into place. And it starts with a return to an old classic: the Good Job Boys, otherwise known as “Untitled Third Line.”

We’re talking, of course, about the line of Dakota Joshua, Teddy Blueger, and Conor Garland.

Speaking of those who stepped up in Miller’s absence, Garland has piled up four goals and 12 points across those ten games. Joshua, meanwhile, got his first of the season on Tuesday against St. Louis and is slowly-but-surely rounding into form after a late start to the season.

Thus far, in 2024/25, the line have played just over 20 minutes together. But it’s hard to forget a run of success like they had last year, and now seems like the perfect opportunity to see if they can reignite that camaraderie.

There’s an argument to try someone like Aatu Räty or Max Sasson in between Joshua and Garland. Or, perhaps Suter, if he weren’t assigned to Miller’s wing. But we know the Blueger option works, and well enough to be well worth taking another spin now that all its components are back up to speed.

The aforementioned top-nine leaves four players over with which to cobble together a fourth line, those being Danton Heinen, Nils Höglander, Räty, and Sasson.

The first question becomes, then, who exits the lineup as Miller enters it?

The easiest answer is one of Räty or Sasson, each of whom could be sent back down to Abbotsford without requiring waivers at any point.

But Räty’s looked good all season, and his contributions in the faceoff circle should not be taken lightly. At the same time, Sasson has impressed since getting the call-up from the AHL, and there may be a desire to keep his solid roll going.

Höglander has, no doubt, been in coach Tocchet’s doghouse this season. But he’s also picked up his play of late, and seems like he may be on the cusp of putting up some numbers again. A healthy scratch or two wouldn’t be surprising, but then the team is going to want to get Höglander back in there.

Heinen’s struggles, on the other hand, have flown a bit under the radar. But he’s gone ten games without a point as of this writing – covering Miller’s entire absence – and has just three goals on the entire year.

Heinen has arguably earned a scratch as much as anyone, and as the coaching staff picks out the first individual to take a seat here, we suspect it might be him.

But no one will sit forever. If no further injuries occur, this group will rotate, something made easier by the fact that both Räty and Sasson can play centre.

Put it all together, and we think we’re looking at:

Of course, Wednesday’s practice could tell us something entirely different. But that’s the risk one runs when engaging in some early morning, pre-practice speculation.