The Vancouver Canucks made a very hard decision last season when they traded forward J.T. Miller to the New York Rangers. Vancouver made this choice because of the crumbling relationship between Miller and their star forward, Elias Pettersson. One of the two players was bound to be traded, and the organization chose to ship off Miller.
You can argue that Vancouver may not have received equal value in this trade, but since being traded, Miller has done nothing but prove the Canucks right in their decision to move on from the current Rangers captain.
Miller Is a Bad Leader
Time and time again, Miller has shown that he is not someone who can be counted upon to lead a team. He showed that multiple times in Vancouver and recently in New York, when asked about what his team needs to do over the Olympic break to regroup. “I literally don’t know,” he said. “Come back with a better mindset, I guess.”
Right here is another prime example of how Miller has no idea how to lead a hockey team. As the captain of an organization, it is your job to build your teammates up and be a player that they look to when times get difficult. In that one quote, he has essentially stated that he has no idea how to help his team at this point in the season.
If your captain is outwardly telling the media that he has no clue how he can help his team, then how can any player on the Rangers trust him to lead their locker room or be looked upon to help his team when times get tough?
The constant display of a lack of accountability and leadership skills still makes me wonder to this day why he was given the honour of captaining an Original Six franchise and arguably the biggest hockey team in the United States.
Canucks Made The Right Choice
This lack of leadership is a recurring theme for this player and shows why Vancouver made the right choice to trade him. Obviously, while in Vancouver, he had a bad relationship with Pettersson, which led to his trade. But he also had multiple other public disagreements with players on that team. The public is not privy to what happens in the dressing room, but Miller had a very public blow-up with Luke Schenn.
After the second period of an October 2022 game ended, Miller and Schenn got into a screaming match with each other as all the players were leaving the ice. It got so bad that Conor Garland had to skate in between the two of them to break up the fight. A real leader would not get into a heated argument while on the ice, where every camera can see you.
Related: Canucks Need to Take the “A” Away From Miller
That was just the tip of the iceberg in terms of Miller picking fights with players. He never got along with Pettersson, and rumours have spread that he and Bo Horvat didn’t see eye to eye, either. Say what you want about how Pettersson has played since signing his big extension, but Vancouver could not have Miller on their team anymore.
You can’t have a player on your team who is a part of your leadership group who is getting into public screaming matches with other members of your team. Whether he is in the right or not is not relevant, as he is looked at as a leader in your locker room, and leaders do not bring people down. A leader is someone you look to for help in hard times, someone who can help bring you out of the mud and put a smile on your face. Not someone who feels the need to make you feel worse about yourself.
Miller is a great hockey player who has proven over the past several years that he is not a leader. He proved that in Vancouver and is continuing to prove that in New York. Pettersson may not be playing up to his potential, but Miller is proving that the Canucks made the right choice to trade him and get his negative energy away from this organization.
