J.T. Miller came very close to being held out of the Vancouver Canucks’ game against the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday.
That’s according to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, who reported live on Hockey Day in Canada that the Canucks came very close to trading Miller.
“There was a time over the last 24 hours where J.T. Miller was not going to play, he was going to be held out of the lineup because talks were progressing on a trade and I believe that team to be the New York Rangers," said Friedman. "I don't know exactly what happened but that trade is off right now.”
Friedman additionally reported that Miller was told sometime on Saturday that he might not play against the Oilers.
This coincided with the Rangers holding three of their prospects out of the lineup of their AHL affiliate, the Hartford Wolf Pack, on Saturday: Adam Sykora, Jaroslav Chmelar, and Bo Groulx. In addition, Larry Brooks of the New York Post to go to the Canucks in a Miller trade.
With the trade with the Rangers falling through, Friedman also reported that “some teams do have permission [from the Canucks] to talk to Miller,” with reports circulating that the Dallas Stars are one of those teams.
That’s a lot of off-ice noise heading into a crucial game for the Canucks, who desperately needed to turn their season around. It had to be particularly tough on Miller, who had to face the possibility of his time in Vancouver coming to a close.
Then Miller went out on the ice and shut down Connor McDavid.
Miller had an excellent game for the Canucks, playing in a direct match-up role against McDavid and limiting the three-time Hart Trophy winner to just two shots on goal and a lone secondary assist that came on the power play when Miller wasn’t on the ice.
On top of that, Miller had two assists of his own — both on power play goals Quinn Hughes did most of the work, but still — and was a beast in the faceoff circle, going 18-for-23 for a 78.3% faceoff percentage.
It was a solid performance any way you look at it but it felt more impressive given everything surrounding Miller leading into the game.
“You just try to focus on the game,” said Miller when asked about handling the trade rumours. “It’s probably good you’re playing the Oilers tonight and have a match-up focus to try to keep me focused.”
A couple of reporters in the media scrum tried to wheedle a more comprehensive answer out of Miller, but he adroitly stepped aside, getting a laugh out of the group when he zinged The Athletic’s Thomas Drance for his attempt.
“Nice try,” said Miller with a smirk. “You’ve gotta be a little more clever.”
If Miller does get traded, this game was a pretty good swan song. Still, just because a trade came close to being completed on Saturday doesn’t mean one will be completed in the near future. Any time a star like Miller is involved in trade talks, it’s rarely simple and straightforward. It’s entirely possible that Miller doesn’t get traded at all and remains in Vancouver for the rest of his career.
“I’m planning on being a Canuck today and tomorrow,” said Miller. “Whatever happens, happens. I’m focused on the next game.”
I will also be focused on the next game, just as I was focused on this game when I watched this game.
- Oh boy, did this game ever end in a brouhaha. Two match penalties — one of them to Connor McDavid! — and ten minor penalties, all with three seconds left. It was a bonkers finish but we’ll get to that at the end of the bullet points after dealing with everything else that happened. , because it was a wild one.
- After dreadful first periods against the Winnipeg Jets and Los Angeles Kings, the Canucks came out against the Oilers like they had something to prove. And prove it they did, outshooting the Oilers 16-to-7 and scoring three goals to take a 3-0 lead into the first intermission. It was like the Canucks’ video sessions heading into the game were just showing the team the first periods against the Jets and Kings and saying, “Do this! But opposite!”
- Nils Höglander played less than ten minutes but he had an outsized impact in those minutes. He had the Canucks’ best chance early in the game, as he took a stretch pass from Filip Hronek, burst past Mattias Janmark, and nearly tucked the puck past Stuart Skinner on a nifty deke. He then went between his legs to put the rebound on net but skinner got the toe of his skate on the puck to keep it out.
- After peppering Stuart Skinner all period, the Canucks got a lucky bounce to open the scoring on the power play. It was a quick one: Miller won the faceoff, then he and Conor Garland made a ruckus in front of the net while Quinn Hughes jumped up the left side. The captain’s centring pass was intended for Garland but the puck slipped by his stick when Mattias Ekholm crosschecked him to the ice, only for the puck to bank in off Ekholm’s skate instead.
- Just over a minute later, the Canucks extended the lead to two. Phil Di Giuseppe gained the offensive zone and protected the puck, then fed Tyler Myers at the point. Myers gave it a half-clapper on the one-timer, putting the puck in a perfect spot for a tip. Danton Heinen and tipped generously, then finished off his own rebound to make it 2-0.
- A couple of minutes later, Hughes made it 3-0 with his second power play goal of the period. Like it had just been to the spa, the power play looked rejuvenated, with more movement, crisper passes, and plenty of direct plays to the net. They were buzzing all around the zone before Hughes took a pass from Miller at the top of the left faceoff circle and wired a wristshot top corner past Skinner.
- “Winning those faceoffs on the power play was big,” said Rick Tocchet of Miller. “Those are big ones for us; that got us the two goals.”
- The Oilers had a beef on the 3-0 goal, as Elias Pettersson pretty blatantly tripped Darnell Nurse at the side of the goal. Pettersson did the universal symbol in hockey of “I’m guilty” by dropping his stick and holding up his hands as if to say, “I didn’t do nothin’!” The trip went uncalled and the goal stood.
- And maybe Brock Boeser also interfered with Ryan Nugent-Hopkins before the goal. Maybe.
- The second period saw the Oilers chip away at the lead, making Canucks fans very nervous considering how many games the Canucks have choked away this season. Leon Draisaitl scored twice from terrible angles, which is his bread and butter, and it seemed like the game was going to slip away like it had been coated in said butter.
- On the Oilers’ first goal, Connor McDavid caused Tyler Myers to topple over like a Jenga tower, then set up Darnell Nurse at the backdoor. A timely stickcheck by Kiefer Sherwood prevented the tap-in goal but Hronek’s attempt to clear the puck to the boards instead landed directly on Draisaitl’s stick and he banked the puck in off Thatcher Demko’s backside.
- Draisaitl added another on the power play with a shot that I still can barely believe actually went in. It seemed impossible for him to score from an angle that acute. It would be one thing if he snuck the puck in on the short side while Demko was moving or banked the puck in off a pad, but he was a foot from the goal line and somehow got the puck past all of Demko and put it in off the far post. Ridiculous.
- The officials missed a lot of calls in this game, such as the one (maybe two) by the Canucks on the 3-0 goal. The missed high stick by McDavid on Hronek felt pretty egregious, though, as he got the toe of his stick right up under Hronek’s chin and speared him in the throat. But I think I know why they missed it: Hronek’s thick and luxurious beard obscured McDavid’s stick, so the refs couldn’t see it.
- The Canucks took their line-matching very seriously in this game. At one point with about six minutes left in the third period, the Miller line came out on the ice when Nugent-Hopkins stepped on, as they anticipated McDavid was about to join him. When the Oilers’ fourth line instead came out, Miller and his linemates bolted back to the bench, ending their shift after just ten seconds.
- That was an extremely short shift but the Canucks were diligent all night about taking short shifts. “You can’t play tired against them,” said Miller. “They stay on and have long shifts and they’re better when they’re tired than I am.”
- Elias Pettersson had a quieter night but still played a role in the Canucks’ defensive efforts, playing a secondary shutdown role behind Miller against the McDavid and Draisaitl lines. His forechecking shift with about five minutes left drew an appreciative roar from the crowd, as he threw a hit on Evan Bouchard, then chased down his defence partner, Mattias Ekholm, to play the body again and win the puck before diving to poke the puck free to a teammate. The ensuing offensive zone possession led to Jake DeBrusk drawing an Oilers penalty to give the Canucks a late power play.
- All told, the Canucks limited the Oilers to just 15 shots on goal, which is stunning when you consider the Oilers lead the NHL in shots per game. In fact, this was the first time all season that the Oilers have been held to fewer than 21 shots. Does it help that this was the Oilers’ ninth game in nine different cities and their third game in four nights? Sure, but that doesn’t take anything away from the Canucks’ defensive efforts.
- I asked Garland about limiting the Oilers’ shot and he zinged me pretty good. “How many did they have?” he asked and I had to admit I didn’t know the exact total. “You asked and you didn’t even know?” We shared a laugh about that after; next time, I’ll take a look at the stat sheet first.
- Things got out of hand late in the dying seconds. Trying to hold onto the one-goal lead, Garland decided his best bet was to grab hold of McDavid and never let him go. McDavid, understandably, didn’t care for this treatment and crosschecked Garland in the face. Ray Ferraro, doing colour commentary for the broadcast, erupted, shouting, “Oh man! That is a brutal crosscheck from McDavid!”
- Let’s be completely clear: Garland was cheating. He grabbed hold of McDavid’s arm and pinned it underneath his body, then wrapped his arms around McDavid as they got to their feet. It should’ve been a penalty but the referees let it go. So yes, it was cheating; it was also smart, as Garland completely eliminated McDavid from the play for a good 15 seconds and, even if the refs did call a penalty, the play wouldn't have been blown dead until a Canuck gained possession of the puck.
- “I was just holding him,” admitted Garland, in the same tone of voice as Zac Oyama saying, “I mean, he’s the best player to ever do it. The time is running out and I just thought that maybe the best way to win the game was to do that.”
- While Garland’s underhanded — and, at times, overhanded — tactics were surely annoying but that doesn’t justify McDavid’s response. His match penalty indicates the officials saw it as intent to injure and carries an automatic suspension until NHL commissioner Gary Bettman decides on the case. Considering it happened with 2.3 seconds left, being forced to leave the game wasn’t much of a penalty at all, so McDavid ought to be suspended for the cheap shot.
- Meanwhile, off to the side, Tyler Myers had his own altercation with Evan Bouchard and crosschecked him in the face. There’s no excusing that — Myers also got a match penalty that carries an automatic suspension.
- What the NHL does now will be interesting. McDavid already got away with a earlier this week, with Johansson going on injured reserve with a likely concussion as a result, while McDavid was neither penalized nor suspended. But now he’s been given a match penalty alongside another player who committed the exact same infraction. Surely, the NHL has to give McDavid and Myers matching suspensions. They can’t possibly suspend just Myers and not McDavid; they can’t be shown to give a star player preferential treatment that blatantly, right?
- Here’s what the league should do: suspend both Myers and McDavid for two games. That takes both of them out of the lineup for the rematch between the Canucks and the Oilers on Thursday, hopefully eliminating any retributive nonsense that either team cooks up. In any case, two games seems like a pretty reasonable suspension for a couple of crosschecks to the face that didn’t appear to cause injuries.
- Lost in the kerfuffle, Pettersson laid his body on the line in the final seconds after his stick broke on a previous shot block. He laid out to block another two shots from Draisaitl before the whistle blew for McDavid’s crosscheck. That brings him up to 50 blocks for the year, which is ninth among all NHL forwards.
- Kiefer Sherwood has an active stick even when he’s on the bench. He either appreciated Garland’s wrestling tactics or was cheering on the blocked shots. Either way, he was very, very excited.
- When Wes McCauley finally announced the penalties after video review, he gave it some classic McCauley flare. After stating that McDavid and Myers had match penalties, he announced, “Everyone else on the ice has minors.” Stuart Skinner and Thatcher Demko must have been wondering, “Wait, what did I do?”
- This was an impressive win by the Canucks, as they proved that they can shutdown the best players in the NHL, that they can score three goals in a period, that their power play can produce, and that they can hold a lead. Now, the challenge is to do it again. It has now been 22 games since the Canucks won two games in a row.
- “We’ve got to start building on stuff and be a consistent group,” said Garland. “Hopefully, this is the start of something for us.”
