In today’s episode of ’32 Thoughts’ with Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, the Vancouver Canucks and their recent trade activity were the center of attention. Friedman originally broke the news that the Canucks were trading forward J.T. Miller to the New York Rangers on Friday night, and Friedman provided even more context to the move.
Friedman reported that a players-only meeting happened during Vancouver’s early road trip to Florida in mid-October. This meeting addressed the rift between teammates Miller and Elias Pettersson. While the Sportsnet insider did not disclose which players led the discussion, the focus was on encouraging Miller and Pettersson to improve their relationship for the team’s betterment.
Ultimately, Miller’s relationship with Pettersson didn’t significantly improve, prompting him to take a month-long leave of absence. Friedman noted that when Miller returned in mid-November, the Vancouver organization had committed to trading him at some point this year.
The news from Friedman contradicts many of the reports surrounding Miller in December. In early December, Rick Dhaliwal of The Athletic reported the Canucks had publicly asserted they wouldn’t be trading Miller, and that he wouldn’t be requesting a trade from Vancouver.
As things turned out, Miller was indeed on the chopping block, being sent to the Rangers for Filip Chytil, Victor Mancini, and a protected 2025 first-round pick. Vancouver quickly moved the first-round pick to the Pittsburgh Penguins later that evening to acquire Marcus Pettersson and Drew O’Connor. Friedman believes that will be the only first-round pick the Canucks will trade this season.
After last night’s overtime loss to the Detroit Red Wings, Vancouver is 23-18-11 through 52 games and is two points back of the final wild-card spot in the Western Conference. Given their status as a bubble team at the moment, the Canucks’ first-round pick has a higher value than most prospective buyers as it could realistically become a lottery selection by the end of the year.
The Canucks are aware of this and have reportedly told interested teams they have no interest in moving their first-round pick unless they have a comfortable spot in the standings by the trade deadline. Vancouver traded their 2024 first-round pick to the Calgary Flames last season in the package for Elias Lindholm making it the first time since 2021 that they hadn’t made a first-round selection.
Vancouver’s position as a playoff contender may impact captain Quinn Hughes’ participation in the upcoming 4 Nations Face-Off starting next week. Hughes suffered a hand injury in the team’s recent game against the Dallas Stars, keeping him out of the lineup of last night’s contest. Friedman noted in his podcast that although no decision has been made, Vancouver could ask to withdraw from the tournament with Team USA to focus solely on getting healthy for their playoff run.
As arguably the team’s top defenseman, it would be a major blow to the American’s odds of winning the tournament. Still, Team USA has an easy choice for his replacement should he bow out in Washington Capitals’ blue liner, John Carlson.
Don’t bet the house on Canucks holding onto that first pick; the pressure to “do anything” to not waste a Quinn Hughes year – and with all teams anticipating a big cap windfall in 2 years, he’s likely going to get all he wants elsewhere w/o the eighth year – this franchise has a habit of going all in as opposed thinking about the future. I’ve been a fan since ‘72 so I know (Vaive, Neely, Wesley, Rogers, Guenther…)