Canucks should have traded J.T. Miller when they had the chance

J.T. Miller remains a Vancouver Canuck, and the deeper we go into NHL free agency, the less likely Vancouver will be to find an attractive trade partner for their opinion-splitting star.

Video Transcript

JULIAN MCKENZIE: JT Miller is out there. Our good friend Thomas Drance wrote a whole piece in "The Athletic" earlier today about how all these different things have happened. How do they affect the Canucks? How does this affect JT Miller? Why is he still a Canuck? Why is this still going on? I don't get it. Sam, I don't get it.

SAM CHANG: I'm supposed to be able to explain the Vancouver Canucks?

[LAUGHTER]

JULIAN MCKENZIE: Oh.

OMAR: It's a-- but it is a very good point, right? I don't know. Sam, at a scale of one to 10, how sure were you that he was gone at the deadline?

SAM CHANG: I wasn't sure he was going to be gone this deadline. I think he'll definitely be gone by next trade deadline. But it's super-risky, right? There's no guarantee he has another season like he's had for the last year.

OMAR: Yeah. I mean, wouldn't you try to-- I'd probably try to treat him now. I see the return for like for what Tkachuk got. And I'd be like, OK, yeah--

SAM CHANG: That was the first thing I tweeted, trade JT Miller.

OMAR: Yeah.

SAM CHANG: I saw that Tkachuk trade, I was trade JT Miller. Although to be fair, he's closer in age to Huberdeau, right?

JULIAN MCKENZIE: Yeah.

OMAR: That's fair.

SAM CHANG: He's much closer in age to Huberdeau. His next contract is going to be massive and his last one. And whoever signs that is going to have to take on the risk of him in his mid to late 30s.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: Are we already seeing teams just being very gun-shy about those players? Because I mean, Nazem Kadri we were talking about him earlier. No one's really bringing out the bag for him. Jonathan Huberdeau--

SAM CHANG: There's a significant chunk of the Canucks fan base that's like, you can't trade JT Miller. He's our best player. You have to re-sign him. And I'm like--

OMAR: Wow. has the faith in Petterson really dropped that far, man?

SAM CHANG: I don't think so. I just think there's a segment of the fan base that loves the way JT Miller plays. And those are the people who don't love the way Petterson plays, probably didn't love the way that the Sedins played.

[INTERPOSING VOICES]

AVRY LEWIS-MCDOUGALL: I wonder what the connections are, Sam.

OMAR: Sounds familiar.

AVRY LEWIS-MCDOUGALL: Hmm.

SAM CHANG: People with no taste.

[LAUGHTER]

AVRY LEWIS-MCDOUGALL: I mean, there is value to JT Miller. But if you believe that Petterson isn't better than him or the Sedins weren't as good, well, that's a you problem.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: That is kind of a you problem.

SAM CHANG: And I will say, he's had a fantastic two seasons. But you should have traded him at the peak--

OMAR: Yeah.

SAM CHANG: --at the absolute peak. That's what should have happened. But I think as usual, they try to straddle the line between being competitive-- and when he's one of your only players who's producing, it's pretty hard to trade him. They've yet to commit to a full rebuild.