Canucks vs. Rangers Game Day: J.T. Miller says it’s been ‘a long year’

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Vancouver Canucks vs. New York Rangers

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When/where: Saturday, 10 a.m., Madison Square Garden

TV: Sportsnet Radio: Sportsnet 650

The buzz: Remember J.T. Miller? Sure you do. You know, the centre? The guy whose name fans chanted here?

He has changed jerseys, but it’s clear from his post-trade comments that Miller left a piece of his heart in Vancouver. His kids’ earliest memories will forever be set on Canada’s west coast. They heard their dad’s name chanted in Rogers Arena.

No hard feelings, he told Sportsnet’s Iain MacIntyre this week. He said he will forever be thankful.

“Their honesty, their passion … I feel like I pride myself on a lot of the same things (the fans) do. They’re obsessed with their hockey there, and obsessed with their team, and they’re always blunt. Not to like that would be pretty hypocritical,” he told MacIntyre.

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Certainly when the season started, the idea that Miller would be traded midseason wasn’t even a glint of a thought. But the season went badly and then there was some sort of internal blow-up that led to Miller taking a 10-game leave from the team and an eventual break with the Canucks’ future.

For his part, Miller said the rift between him and Elias Pettersson was overblown. But still the overall situation had become untenable. What went into all that, he is still keeping to himself. In the end, he insists, his bad play, and Pettersson’s, is the story.

“Clearly, if me and Petey were better than we were, obviously this might be different. But it’s also not as bad as everybody thought, either. It’s just an easy thing for everybody to run with. There was just a lot of moving parts,” he said.

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“It has been a long year for me, personally, away from the game. You sit back and try to evaluate what it means to you.”

The history: The Rangers beat the Canucks 4-3 in November, the first game of Miller’s leave of absence. But these Rangers are a different group. They’re reeling. They have lost seven of nine and are fading in the playoff chase.

The hope: The Canucks’ offence has been improving. They’re even scoring goals off the rush. They need to keep that up to start piling up wins and secure their spot in the playoffs.

The fear: These Canucks remain woefully inconsistent. They won six of eight games before the 4-Nations break, but most of the year has been mostly two-game stretches of wins and losses.

The top guns: Elias Pettersson has 10 points in eight games. That’s tied for fourth in the NHL since the trade deadline. After a bright start to his Rangers revival, Miller has just four assists since the deadline. But Artemi Panarin has 16 points in an 11-game point streak.

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The wounded: Canucks: Thatcher Demko (lower body, day to day). Rangers: Matt Rempe (illness, day to day), Arthur Kaliyev (upper body, season-ending), Adam Edstrom (lower body, month to month).

The quote: “We loved it there. It felt like home, and that’s all you can ask for. But, unfortunately, this is a business, and in the business end of things, it was getting difficult.” — J.T. Miller on leaving his home of six years.

The projected lineup: 

Höglander-Pettersson-Boeser

DeBrusk-Suter-Sherwood

Joshua-Åman-Garland

O’Connor-Blueger-Karlsson

Hughes-Hronek

M. Pettersson-Myers

E. Pettersson-Forbort

Lankinen

The prediction: Two reeling teams. Feels like there will be a lot of goals in this one. Look for a 5-4 Canucks win.

pjohnston@postmedia.com

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