J.T. Miller may now be one of the elder statesmen on a Vancouver Canucks team looking to make a long playoff run, but he wasn’t always at the top of the food chain.
On a recent episode of Daily Faceoff‘s “Morning Cuppa Hockey” show with Jonny Lazarus, former NHL defenceman Keith Yandle told the story of when he pranked Miller during his first full season with the New York Rangers.
As Yandle told it, he and Kevin Hayes stole Miller’s car while the fresh-faced forward was taking part in an exit interview with the Rangers’ staff after the 2014–15 season. Hijinks ensued from there.
Keith Yandle tells a story of how he and Kevin Hayes once pranked J.T. Miller by taking his SUV and leaving it on the side of a New York highway during their days with the Rangers. 😅
(Via @DailyFaceoff’s Morning Cuppa Hockey) pic.twitter.com/eUffTO5LxU
— CanucksArmy (@CanucksArmy) May 2, 2024
Jonny Lazarus: I wanted to ask you, and you don’t have to tell it if you don’t want: Did you, like, steal Kevin Hayes’ car while he was in an exit meeting in New York or something and leave it on the west side highway? What is that story?
Keith Yandle: J.T. Miller’s. At the end of the year, your year-end meetings, it’s kind of — it goes in order of seniority. We had St. Louis, Dan Boyle, we had a ton of guys, and I was probably, maybe, seven or eight down. Rick Nash was on there, so I came in, and Nasher was waiting, and I was like, ‘What are you waiting for, you’re Rick Nash?’ And he was like, ‘Oh, Millsy’s in there,’ and I was like, ‘What?’ He was a rookie, yeah, and I love Millsy. Millsy’s one of my all-time favourite teammates, I love him. He was like, ‘Yeah, Millsy’s in there, apparently he’s gotta get home,’ and I’m like, ‘Get home?’ The guy lives in East Palestine, Ohio. What does he need to get home to, you know? […] His car’s right outside, still running. His car is still running. All his stuff in there. So I just went in, I’m like, ‘Hayesy, grab your car, follow me.’ I jumped in and we drove it, I think he had like a Dodge Durango or something, it was like a soccer mom’s car, he was like 20 years old, it was great. But yeah, I think he learned his lesson.
Hockey players gonna hockey player, right? As we saw with Marc-Andre Fleury and Brandon Duhaime earlier this season, cars certainly aren’t off-limits when it comes to pranks among teammates.
Miller, now 31, spent parts of six seasons with the Rangers to begin his NHL career before being traded to the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2018. The 6’1″ forward appeared in just 94 regular-season games with the Lightning before being flipped again to the Canucks in 2019.
Through 799 career games over 12 NHL seasons with the Rangers, Lightning, and Canucks, Miller has racked up 238 goals and 639 points. He’s added 10 goals and 50 points in 83 playoff contests.
