Here are just a few arguments for the Canucks potentially trading one of their top centermen J.T. Miller or Elias Pettersson.
Feel free to provide more arguments or rebut any of these.
Miller provides more of an attitude and approach you want your NHL team to play with … aggravated, aggressive competitiveness. He’s a great guy to have around for that reason alone, not to mention coming off a 103-point season and capable of more.
Despite issues this season and a ten-game absence for personal reasons, Miller is close to being a point-a-game player. He’ll hit, he’ll fight when necessary, he’ll go to the tough areas.
The flipside: His aggressive “bossy” nature has rubbed others the wrong way, particularly fellow top forward Pettersson. Miller, five years older than “Petey”, was apparently a “tough love” mentor to the Swede as he developed his game. The two are clearly built differently physically and mentally. Hard to imagine Petey as being the aggressor in this scenario.
“It only gets resolved for a short period of time and then it festers again and so it certainly appears like there’s not a good solution that would keep this group together,” Canucks president of hockey operations Jim Rutherford told Gary Mason of the Globe and Mail in an exclusive article on Tuesday.
“When you don’t have chemistry, it’s hard to be that consistent team, because there’s too much going on in the room for everybody to concentrate on what they’re supposed to do,” Rutherford told Mason.
On Wednesday, Miller refused to comment on the article.
The Canucks prez added that the drama has impacted the entire team.
So if forced to make a choice, for the good of the franchise moving forward, which player moves on?
The argument for keeping Pettersson revolves around his sometimes unique and elite skill set. It was bizarre to hear Canucks GM Patrik Allvin at a recent press conference refer to how Pettersson “could be a star” in the NHL, just two seasons after everyone in the league assumed he was one. He was an NHL All-Star Game participant last season before finishing with 89 points in 82 games.
He’s capable of more magic than Miller, but he’s also prone to droughts, whether it’s because of being annoyed by a teammate or not.
Defensively, Petey’s capable of playing an effective two-way game, but not so much as a physical presence. He’s more than willing to backcheck and he exhibits excellent stick work.
Oh yes, the last huge factor, Petey makes $11.6-million for another seven seasons. Miller costs $8-million per year for another five.
Hypothetically it comes down to which playing style most benefits your team. In reality, it comes down to whose absence will most benefit the dressing room.
Rutherford referred to keeping 25-year-old captain Quinn Hughes happy, in hoping that his star defenceman will stay in Vancouver “forever”. “Huggy”, as he’s been called, shares an agent with Petey, Pat Brisson, and the two have been known to be close. They held out together through training camp while awaiting new contracts in 2021.
Maybe there’s the answer.
What’s yours?
