Two former Canucks players hired by the San Jose Sharks
A pair of former Vancouver Canucks players are back in the National Hockey League.
Best remembered for their days with the Buffalo Sabres, Ryan Miller and Thomas Vanek also had successful, albeit brief, stints with the Canucks. And now they’re members of the San Jose Sharks organization.
Miller and Vanek, who were both teammates of Sharks GM Mike Grier during their Buffalo days, have been hired in their first non-playing NHL jobs. Miller will take on the role of goalie scout/goaltending development, while Vanek will serve as amateur scout in the Minnesota region.
“Miller will scout draft-eligible goaltenders as the Sharks goalie scout, and also assist Director, Goaltending Evgeni Nabokov in the organization’s development of the goaltending prospects and players,” the Sharks explained in a press release.
The #SJSharks have added Jack Anderson, Jaren Burke, Igor Eronko, Ryan Miller and Thomas Vanek to the Hockey Operations staff.
— San Jose Sharks (@SanJoseSharks) August 18, 2023
Vanek is the highest-scoring Austrian-born player of all-time (789 points), while Miller is the winningest American goaltender ever (391 wins).
Miller played three seasons in Vancouver, from 2014 to 2017. He compiled a 64-68-16 record with a .914 save percentage and 2.69 goals-against average, playing behind mostly poor teams during the Willie Desjardins era. He just missed Vanek in Vancouver, as the Austrian sniper joined the Canucks before the 2017-18 season. Vanek scored 41 points (17-24-41) in 61 games before being traded to Columbus for Tyler Motte during his lone season with the Canucks.
It was in Buffalo that Miller and Vanek made their names. Miller played 540 games with the Sabres, won a Vezina Trophy in 2010, and had his number retired in Buffalo earlier this year. Vanek, meanwhile, scored 497 points in 598 games with the Sabres.
Miller went on to play four more NHL seasons after leaving Vancouver, retiring in 2021. Vanek signed with the Detroit Red Wings in the summer after he was traded by the Canucks, playing just one more season before retiring in 2019.
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