The Vancouver Canucks might be primed for a complete teardown, in which case J.T. Miller is an obvious trade candidate.
And as the rumors that he’s on the way out game steam, more clarity on his suitors is coming into focus.
During an appearance on SportsNet 650 in Vancouver, DailyFaceoff NHL Insider Frank Seravalli reported that he heard the Boston Bruins, Minnesota Wild and Calgary Flames all have expressed interest in Miller.
The 28-year-old can play all three forward positions, and while historically used largely on the power play, he has become more of an all-situations player in Vancouver and sometimes is used as a penalty-killer. He has tremendous offensive ability both as a playmaker and someone who can do it all himself, and over the last three seasons has been a nearly point-per-game player (54-103-157 in 161 games).
Vancouver very well might be able to get a haul for him. In addition to his scoring ability, he also has term on his current deal, which runs through next season at a $5.25 million cap hit.
Miller long has been lauded for being a supremely dialed-in player who cares a lot about winning (however you measure that), even on some bad Canucks teams. The Canucks aren’t fully out of the playoff picture yet, but they have some ground to cover if they want to make this postseason. For that reason, it seems unlikely they would trade Miller soon, but he’ll be a name to watch as the March 21 trade deadline nears.
