It’s flown under the radar because the team has been winning and the market has been hyper-focussed in equal measures on the heroics of Quinn Hughes and struggles of Elias Pettersson, but things have been far too quiet around JT Miller for too long now.
Miller’s empty netter in Los Angeles on Thursday is his lone goal in the past six games, and he has just that goal and a secondary power play assist in Anaheim to show for his past five outings.
Saturday against Edmonton was one of the poorest showings of JT Miller’s time in a Canucks uniform. No shots on goal and just a single attempt in a one-sided matchup role against Connor McDavid. With Miller on the ice at 5-on-5, the Oilers outshot the Canucks 8-0, outchanced them 9-1, and outscored them 3-0.
Without question, Miller and the Canucks missed Brock Boeser – and hopefully the head injury suffered on Thursday night doesn’t keep him out of the line-up long. But in Boeser’s absence, however long it is, Miller needs to find a way to elevate his play. That’s just the way it works for stars in this league.
He had a huge impact on opening night against Calgary with the massive hit on Kevin Rooney, the subsequent fight against Anthony Mantha and the late third period heroics to force overtime after the Canucks had frittered away a 4-1 lead. Since the first game of the season, Miller’s finest moment was a beautiful overtime winner in Florida on October 17th. Otherwise, it’s been remarkably quiet around the engine and the heartbeat of the hockey club.
Somewhat surprisingly, Miller is 11th on the Canucks with just one 5-on-5 goal so far this season and with five points is tied for eighth in 5-on-5 scoring behind the likes of Teddy Blueger, Kiefer Sherwood and Danton Heinen.
To be fair to Miller, he was clearly hobbled by something that kept him out of all but the team’s final preseason game and perhaps he’s still playing through whatever was bothering him six weeks ago. Miller, himself, has said it’s not about points and that he’d be happy to trade in production for an improved all around game. There have been glimpses of that, but not with great regularity.
On the season, his underlying numbers are solid, but not spectacular. He’s carrying an individual Corsi of 52.8% at 5-on-5 and the Canucks have outscored opponents 10-6 with Miller on the ice. Overall, he has 11 points through the team’s first 13 games. It’s not so much that Miller is playing poorly (Saturday night aside), it’s just that his game seems far more subdued than it has been in recent years when he’s emerged as a true star in this league.
Miller has just seven shots on goal in his last six games. He hasn’t scored a power play goal since an October 22nd game in Chicago. Even when the team has been winning, it’s been primarily on the backs of Hughes, Kevin Lankinen and a variety of supporting cast members.
Expectations for JT Miller should be high. He’s clearly one of the best players on this team and has shown repeatedly his ability to take over hockey games. But that hasn’t happened often this season. If this turns out to be a five or six game rut, then so be it, the team has been picking up results and buying Miller some time to get his game back to where it needs to be. But it just feels awfully quiet around a player who – when he’s on top of his game – is louder than most and capable of so much more.
Miller’s muted stretch has gone relatively unnoticed with attention around this team focussed elsewhere. But there was nowhere for him to hide on Saturday. Many Canucks struggled in a dispiriting 7-3 loss to Edmonton, but not many more than JT Miller. That’s just not something that’s been said often during his time in Vancouver. He can be better and the Canucks need him to be better than he has been of late.
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