It’s almost hard to believe that JT Miller and Quinn Hughes were traded in the same calendar year. What a year 2025 was for the Vancouver Canucks. Once you remember that the Miller trade happened this year, it comes as little surprise to learn that Miller’s trade to the New York Rangers comes in at number three on our list of the top 10 Canucks news stories of the year. After all, Miller’s name has already come in at number six and five on our list, and we haven’t even gotten to the actual trade yet!

After months of speculation and a bombshell interview from Canucks President Jim Rutherford, the club decided the rift between Miller and Elias Pettersson meant that Miller had to be traded. On January 31st, 2025, they pulled off that trade, sending Miller to the New York Rangers. In return, the Canucks received forward Filip Chytil, defenceman Victor Mancini, and a conditional first-round pick in 2025.

Now, hindsight is 20/20, but in retrospect, the Canucks did fairly well in that trade. New York thought they were acquiring a player capable of producing at or above a point-per-game pace, as he did for most of his tenure in Vancouver. This season, however, Miller, who turns 33 in March, has put up 10 goals and 12 assists through 35 games. Further, Miller carries an $8 million cap hit on his contract, which doesn’t expire for another four seasons after this one. The Canucks, especially given where they’re at today, did well to get off of that contract on a ageing player.

Unfortunately, they flipped the first round pick they got in the Miller deal on the same night they acquired it, sending the pick — along with failed UFA signings Danton Heinen and Vincent Desharnais — to the Pittsburgh Penguins in exchange for Drew O’Connor and Marcus Pettersson. The perennially-retooling Canucks once again robbed Peter to pay Paul, and as we look back on the Miller trade, the only real “win” for the Canucks in the end is that they got off the contract. As we — and we think they — know now, is that the Canucks were much further than a 4th defenceman and bottom-six winger away from turning things around.

Had the Canucks kept the pick, they’d have had both the 12th and 15th overall picks in last year’s draft, which would have been a nice way to kickstart the rebuild that the club instead tried to convince themselves they didn’t need by making a win-now move.

Miller left the Canucks with a regular season total of 404 games, 152 goals, 285 assists, and 437 points, just missing out on the top-10 all-time in Canucks scoring at 11th place – 12 points behind Todd Bertuzzi, who played 114 more games in Vancouver. Perhaps more impressively, it’s only 41 points behind Pavel Bure in 24 fewer games. Miller was ranked the 20th-best Canuck of all-time in our recent ranking of the Top 50 Canucks of all time.

Check out our other top 10 stories of 2026 so far!
#10 – Canucks sign Garland and Demko to contract extensions on day one of free agency
#9 – When Rutherford hinted at trading for Jack and Luke Hughes to keep Quinn in Vancouver
#8 – Canucks select Braeden Cootes with 15th overall pick of 2025 NHL Draft
#7 – Brock Boeser details Allvin’s last-minute phone call that kept him in Vancouver
#6 – When Rick Tocchet was brutally honest about JT Miller’s poor play
#5 – When Brian Burke offered his thoughts on Elias Pettersson and JT Miller
#4 – When Rick Tocchet announced he was leaving the Canucks
#3 – Canucks trade JT Miller to New York Rangers