According to multiple reports, the Vancouver Canucks came extremely close to trading J.T. Miller on the weekend.
The talks between the Canucks and New York Rangers got to the point that Miller was nearly held out of Saturday’s game between the Canucks and Edmonton Oilers, but not to the point that Miller was approached to formally waive his no-trade clause, according to a report from Thomas Drance and Rick Dhaliwal in The Athletic.
There was a report out of New York that some high-end players could have been involved in the deal: 2020 first-overall pick Alexis Lafreniere and/or 23-year-old right-shot defenceman Braden Schneider, also a first-round pick.
The Athletic’s report poured cold water on those reports, however, saying that the deal was more likely to include centre Filip Chytil, defenceman Ryan Lindgren, and prospects/picks, with a conditional first-round pick on the table.
The conditions on that first-round pick may have been what kept the deal from going through, as the report from The Athletic states “a disagreement on the protection structure of a first-round pick was a key hurdle,” citing an anonymous source.
That potential return isn’t particularly exciting. The 25-year-old Chytil is a capable enough second-line centre and the 26-year-old Lindgren is about as good as the other bottom-four defencemen on the Canucks’ roster, as in, not good at all. The main return would be the futures involved — prospects and picks — with the two players simply filling short-term holes on the Canucks’ roster.
It’s a sign that Miller’s value on the trade market might not be what Canucks fans expect, given his decline in production, reported clashes with teammates, and long-term contract.
But the trade with the Rangers never happened. It fell through, for one reason or another.
So, now what? What’s next for the Canucks?
Miller and Canucks need to stay focused through the off-ice noise
This is a tough situation for J.T. Miller, who has to move forward knowing that the Canucks were not just paying lip service to the idea of trading him. Instead, they were — and, according to reports, still are — actively seeking a trade and had a deal a hair’s breadth away from getting done.
Is that a wake-up call for the mercurial centre, one that forces him to play a more focused and consistent game?
Saturday, at least, Miller showed that he could block out the noise and deliver on the ice, tallying two assists while playing in a match-up role against Connor McDavid. In fact, playing that role helped.
“You just try to focus on the game,” said Miller on Saturday. “It’s probably good you’re playing the Oilers tonight and have a match-up assignment to try to keep me focused.”
Miller doesn’t want to go anywhere. According to Dhaliwal on ChekTV — and he was adamant about this — Miller did not request a trade.
“His agent, Brian Bartlett, has made it very clear to me,” said Dhaliwal. “Very, very clear, especially on Saturday, that this is not J.T. Miller. He did not go to them and say, ‘I want a trade.’”
Further, Dhaliwal stated that the Canucks decided six weeks ago that “the dynamic of Pettersson and Miller wasn’t working” and that one or both had to go. If that’s true, then this isn’t over and one of them is getting traded.
That’s a tough thing for Miller — and possibly still Pettersson — to have hanging over his head. Perhaps Miller has been dealing with this sword of Damocles situation for a while now.
As for the rest of the team, this close trade call could provoke two very different reactions.
The Canucks could take this as a wake-up call that they need to get it together. It’s time, as one fan said on Twitter, to “put on the best talent show this town has ever seen.”
Alternatively, they could see this as a sign that the Canucks’ management doesn’t believe in this group of players and fold mentally. After all, there’s plenty of evidence from this season supporting the position that this core group can’t get it done.
The Canucks have repeatedly said they’re a resilient group. This is an opportunity for them to prove it.
Winning a Miller trade could prove impossible
Finally, what does this mean for Canucks management? Now that it’s out in the open that Miller nearly got traded and what the return might have been, will that make it easier or harder for a trade to get done?
The truth is, winning a Miller trade, at least in the short-term, isn't on the table. You're not getting a player of Miller's caliber back in a potential deal, particularly if you're trading Miller for a package of players, prospects, and picks.
You might be able to finagle a long-term win out of a Miller trade by getting the right futures in the package, as well as avoiding the latter years of his seven-year contract. Short-term, the only real benefit is shaking up the Canucks' room and forcing the players to take ownership of how the rest of the season unfolds.
A press conference with general manager Patrik Allvin on Monday didn’t provide much clarity on the situation. Instead, Allvin was clear that he wasn’t going to talk specifics, whether about Miller or any other player. Even for those looking to read between the lines, there weren’t many lines to read between.
The closest Allvin came to actually addressing the situation was when Postmedia’s Ben Kuzma asked about the challenge of replacing a top-six forward if such a trade were to occur.
“It’s extremely difficult,” said Allvin. “And you’re going to weigh in the dollar amount too, so most of the deals are dollar in, dollar out, and that’s just hard to make deals. It’s still my job to explore and see what the options are out there and, if it makes sense, then definitely we’ll get into it.”
For what it’s worth, the combined cap hits of Chytil and Lindgren come to $9,937,500 without taking into account any potential retained salaries, which is nearly $2 million more than Miller’s $8 million cap hit.
All of this information being reported by the national media probably hasn’t made his job any easier and it’s certainly made it harder on the players.
“I feel bad for a lot of players when you’re reading some rumours out there,” said Allvin. “I’m proud of the guys, that they’re capable of blocking a lot of noises out and just go out and play. We want to create an environment where they feel safe and trusted. I think the players have galvanized and played extremely well under the circumstances.”
There’s an element of “We’re all trying to find the guy who did this” in Allvin’s response. Part of what is fueling all of these rumours is Allvin’s interview with Sportsnet’s Iain MacIntyre, where instead of killing the trade speculation surrounding Elias Pettersson, he fed into it with an “anything is possible” response. Later in the interview, Allvin suggested that he might need to make a move to “shake things up and send a message to the players.”
That’s not to mention Allvin’s own actions as general manager. The recent rumours surrounding Miller are a result of him reportedly trying to trade one of his star players.
Allvin can certainly feel bad for how that’s affected the players but it will only get worse the longer this is dragged out.
