A familiar face took the ice at the Vancouver Canucks' morning skate as the team welcomed back J.T. Miller.
The centre hasn't played for the Canucks since November 17 against the Nashville Predators. Miller took a leave of absence from the team for unexplained personal reasons, causing him to miss the Canucks' last nine games.
Miller is going to miss at least one more.
While Miller took the ice for morning skate, it was his first practice back with the team, so it would be understandable if he was not back up to speed after his absence. The media were informed that Miller will not play on Tuesday night against the St. Louis Blues.
Miller is expected to practice again with the team on Wednesday and it is possible that he will be an option for the Canucks on Thursday as they face the Florida Panthers, though Tocchet wouldn't commit to that timeline.
"I don't know about Thursday. I don't know," said Rick Tocchet. "I know he's gonna practice with the full team tomorrow, so we'll get him with a line and get him cooking and then we'll go from there. I'll talk to him, how he feels, but he's been skating. He's anxious to get going but on his terms."
The media were also informed that Miller would not speak to them on Tuesday but will speak "soon."
His teammates, of course, were happy to have Miller back.
"It's just nice to have him around and back in the room," said Conor Garland. "He looked good out there — not much rust. He looked fast and energized, almost like when you come back from break a little bit. We're excited to have him back in the fold."
Miller's imminent return should be a boost to a team that has struggled to get started in the first period in recent games.
"90% of the time, I would start him and most of those starts, the puck somehow ends up in their end and we get the forecheck going," said Tocchet. "We need more guys to do that to get the crowd going. Not dip your toe in, you've got to dive in right from the start and Millsy's one of those guys who dives in."
Tocchet said that he regularly communicated with Miller while he was on his leave of absence.
"I talk to Millsy quite a bit whenever," said Tocchet. "Whether he texts me at night about something, we have constant communication."
