The JT Miller era officially ended for the Vancouver Canucks on Friday night, as he was traded to the New York Rangers in exchange for forward Filip Chytil, defenseman Victor Mancini and a 2025 first-round draft pick.
Coincidently, the deal that sent Miller to the Rangers wasn't the only trade that the Canucks completed late on Friday. They also traded forward Danton Heinen and defenseman Vincent Desharnais to the Pittsburgh Penguins in exchange for Marcus Pettersson and Drew O'Connor.
Canucks team president Jim Rutherford then talked about the chances of his team winning the Stanley Cup in the face of the pair of franchise-altering deals that he made, via The New York Times.
“That’s a good question,” Rutherford said shortly after the trades were complete. “It’s been a trying season, to say the least. To be honest, we’re in a fight just to make the playoffs right now. But, we are building for the stretch run. And the thing is, we’re also building for the future as well. We’re building moving forward.”
“We had to give up something to get him, but Marcus is one heck of a defenseman,” Rutherford said. “I traded for him when I was in Pittsburgh, and I’m very happy with how that one turned out. I traded Daniel Sprong for him, and I can still remember people saying, ‘How on earth can you trade Daniel Sprong for this guy?’ Well, I’m pretty darn happy with how that worked out.
How good did that trade work out? And here we are again. We need an upgrade, and he’s going to give us that. I know that he will.”
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The Canucks don't play until Sunday night on home ice when they host the Detroit Red Wings at Rogers Arena; the opening face-off is scheduled for 8:00 PM EST.
JT Miller scored twice for the Rangers in his first game since being traded from the Canucks
Saturday afternoon featured Miller's second debut with the Rangers, and he scored twice at TD Garden against the Boston Bruins.
Unfortunately for the Rangers, Miller's pair of goals wasn't enough to save them from a third straight regulation loss after a stretch that saw them go 7-0-3; they were defeated by the Bruins by a 6-3 final score.
