September 9th 2023
Alex Rickman
When JT Miller’s seven-year, $56 million extension was announced last September, it was met with an extremely mixed reaction from Canucks fans. On the one hand, Miller was coming off of a career year, putting up a team-leading 99 points in his 80 games throughout the 2021-22 season, including several where he went end to end, carving through opposing defences like a knife through hot butter. However, there were some definite red flags that the Canucks front office seemed to choose to look past, making the contract a hazardous move that didn’t sit well with some of the Canucks faithful. Miller’s age combined with the contracts no-move clause, his poor defensive play, and the general fear that he may not be able to replicate his performances from 2021-22 caused a lot of concern in Vancouver, and early on in the 2022-23 campaign it certainly seemed that these fears were being realized.
Miller struggled to perform during the first half of the season, often looking uninterested as the team around him struggled to replicate their form from the end of last season, with Miller taking much of the blame from members of the Canucks fanbase and media. Miller’s body language and occasional on-ice outbursts were scrutinized by fans, with many going as far as saying Miller should have his status as an alternate captain revoked after incidents like his yelling at Collin Delia during a game against the Jets on December 29th. Although Miller’s new extension was yet to kick in at this stage, it seemed like a lot of Canucks fans were having some serious buyer's remorse, and would’ve much preferred to see Miller flipped at last season's trade deadline or draft.
However, under Rick Tocchet’s watch during the second half of the season, Miller’s performance and general on-ice attitude changed for the better, causing some fans to have a change of heart on whether or not extending JT was a good idea. The Miller we saw under Tocchet closely resembled the Miller we saw during the 2021-22 season, using his passion to drive his performance and provide the Canucks with a much-needed physical spark rather than allowing apathy to set in or exploding on his teammates and smashing sticks on the boards. This was the JT Miller the Canucks needed to succeed as a team.
Now, entering Tocchet’s first full season as Canucks bench boss, which Miller should we expect to see in the first year of his new extension? It’s clear that if Miller isn’t consistently putting up performances as he did in the second half of last season that the Canucks will be extremely unlikely to be competitive, so getting those performances out of him will be essential to the team's success, but how easy will that be to do? In my opinion, if anyone can extract those good performances from Miller, it’s Rick Tocchet. Part of why Tocchet was chosen to succeed Bruce Boudreau in the first place was the expectation that he would be able to get through to Miller and get him playing a smarter and more motivated game, and this bet has seemed to pay off in its limited sample size. If JT Miller stays motivated like he appeared to be at the end of last season, nothing is holding him back from being one of the Canucks key contributors.
We all know how important it is for a team's top players to perform up to their expectations. Still, Miller’s performance specifically may have the ability to make or break the Canucks season, particularly the expectation the front office has that the Canucks should be a playoff team this season. Entering last season, the Canucks had three high-quality top-six centres in their ranks with Elias Pettersson, JT Miller, and Bo Horvat. Now, with Horvat gone to the Islanders, the Canucks are going to have to rely heavily on Petey and Miller to perform as centres on the top lines. Pius Suter and Teddy Blueger are solid players in their own right, but both would be somewhat out of place in a team's top six. With no top centre prospects in the system, Petey and Miller will need to be relied upon to hold down the position for years to come.
While Miller’s performance alone won’t be what makes or breaks the Canucks chances of making the postseason, he will have to play an essential role if the Canucks hope to actually push for the playoffs this season. A driven JT Miller has proven himself to be an invaluable piece for the Canucks who can change a game when the Canucks need him most, but if Miller is unable to find the form he’s been in for the majority of his Canucks tenure, his contract could become an anchor holding this team down from being able to improve the roster. I believe that Miller will be able to play up to his expectations and contribute whatever he can towards the Canucks efforts to improve. Still, at the end of the day, we must remember that Miller’s performance alone will not be what puts the Canucks in the playoffs or holds them back from contention. A player as polarizing as Miller will always face a lot of scrutiny from fans, but no matter what happens this season, no one player will be the deciding factor on the Canucks results in the 2023-24 season.