J.T. Miller rumours will finally end if Canucks don't trade him today
J.T. Miller trade rumours. You love ’em. You can’t live without them.
Except maybe you don’t, and they’ll be gone forever very soon.
The Vancouver Canucks star forward has been the subject of frequent trade rumours for more than a year and a half. They’ve been around longer than Patrik Allvin has been Canucks general manager.
It’s almost comical at this point.
Signed to a team-friendly contract paying him $5.25 million per season, Miller seemed like the obvious choice to be traded midway through the 2021-22 season. It wasn’t because he wasn’t playing well, because Miller was in the midst of a career year, scoring 99 points.
But given the state of the team and the fact that the power forward would be 30 years old when his contract came to an end, there was no shortage of chatter about where he would go.
The Canucks surprised insiders by choosing Miller over captain Bo Horvat, inking the former to a contract extension last September. Horvat was dealt to the New York Islanders less than five months later.
But the rumours didn’t stop.
The Pittsburgh Penguins were said to be interested in Miller at the trade deadline, according to reports. But nothing happened.
And now, at long last, the Miller rumour mill is set to come to an end.
For real this time.
Miller’s new seven-year contract kicks in on Saturday and includes a full no-movement clause for the first four years of the deal.
That means that today is the last day the Canucks can trade Miller without his approval.
Will he get dealt? It doesn’t sound like it, given how quiet hockey insiders have been on the subject lately.
Whether you think he should get traded is another story. Miller is the most polarizing player among Canucks fans and media alike. Miller’s critics will point out his poor defensive play and hot temper. Or perhaps they’ll bemoan his lack of five-on-five production last season. But Miller’s supporters will point out that he was better than a point-per-game player for the Canucks last season, and leads all Vancouver players in points by a wide margin since he joined the club in 2019.
Miller leads all Canucks players in scoring since the start of the 2019-20 season.
You take the good with the bad with Miller, and there’s been far more good than bad since the Canucks acquired him.
The biggest question for Miller, like any player in his 30s, is how will he age? Some players fall off a cliff after the milestone birthday — see Loui Eriksson and Oliver Ekman-Larsson for evidence of that. But not every player sees their play decline so rapidly.
Matt Duchene is getting bought out by the Nashville Predators today. He’s only 32 and scored 86 points in 2021-22. He was four years into an identical contract to Miller — $8 million times seven years.
The Miller contract is a gamble by Canucks management, given it doesn’t expire until he’s 37. They’ll need Miller to continue his impressive scoring pace well into the next deal if they hope to take the next step as an organization.
Follow Channels and Categories