Vancouver Canucks forwards J.T. Miller and Elias Pettersson get into a brief but heated physical altercation on the ice at the end of practice today, but is there more going on that is not being spoken about?
The Vancouver Canucks have won three games in a row and have points in all games but one, so what is there to fight about?
It was reported today by Canucks journalist Jeff Paterson that Miller and Pettersson got into a heated exchange on the ice during a battle drill. It seems that Miller got the better of the spat as he finished it with a crosscheck. Words were exchanged but it did not go any further that.
brief but testy exchange between JT Miller & Elias Pettersson at #Canucks practice. End of a battle drill, two chopped at each other and then Miller delivered a quick cross check. A few words were exchanged. Wasn't any bigger than that. But it definitely looked like it had some heat. The two then went their separate ways. Didn't escalate to point coaches or teammates had to intervene
Sure, it is easy to look at a situation like this and say there are "issues in the room", "Pettersson's performance is affecting teammates", or "J.T. Miller is toxic", but in reality, we can almost guarantee it has nothing to do with issues off the ice. Hockey is a physical and competitive sport, and in battling drills, you want guys simulating the game and competing hard, and with that, emotions get elevated.
All in all, there is probably nothing more going on here then some fiery competition and it would be ignorant to paint it any differently. If anything, it shows EP40 has some fight and care to his game right now, in which fans should be happy about.
