Yahoo Sports Canucks Rutherford Confirms Pettersson-Miller Rift, Speaks On Hughes' Long-Term Future In Vancouver
On Tuesday morning, Gary Mason of the "Globe and Mail" released his interview with Vancouver Canucks President of Hockey Operations Jim Rutherford. During the interview, Rutherford touched on multiple topics but primarily focused on the rift between Elias Pettersson and J.T. Miller. While both players have denied the rumoured rift, Rutherford's comments make it clear that there is an issue which has existed for some time now.
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"and I felt like for a long time that there was a solution here because everybody has worked on it, including the parties involved," said Rutherford. "But it only gets resolved for a short period of time and then it festers again and so it certainly appears like there’s not a good solution that would keep this group together."
Later in the article, Rutherford also connected the rift in the locker room to the team's play this season. Rutherford said, "When you don’t have chemistry, it’s hard to be that consistent team because there’s too much going on in the room for everybody to concentrate on what they’re supposed to do.”
Based on recent reports from insiders around the league, the Canucks have come very close to completing trades for both Pettersson and Miller. The Petterson trade involved the Carolina Hurricanes, while the Miller deal was to his former team, the New York Rangers. As Rutherford points out, moving elite players is a complicated task, but the organization already has an idea of what they want back in a trade.
"So yeah, if a centre goes out of here we have to get some kind of centre back but it’s not going to be the same as the centre going out. It might not even be a No. 2 centre, but you’d have to do the best with what we have until we figure out how to fill that spot back in. And then, of course, you have to get extra things (in any trade) that you can either use in the future to flip for NHL players now or for other positions or things like that.”
While the majority of the article focuses on Pettersson and Miller, there is a very interesting one regarding Quinn Hughes' future. Vancouver's captain is signed for two more seasons after 2024-25, at which time he will become a free agent. When asked about his captain re-signing, Rutherford said, "If we were going to completely start over that means he goes, and we’d like to figure out a way that he’s here forever.”
There are many takeaways from this article, but the biggest is that the Canucks are preparing for life without Pettersson and Miller. It has become clear that the two cannot co-exist, and it looks like the organization is ready to move on from two of the best players in franchise history. While it will not be an easy task to replace both Pettersson and Miller, it appears to be the only option if Vancouver wants to move forward and once again become a Stanley Cup contender.
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