2/17/22 | 6PM: Pierre LeBrun said on TSN that the Canucks are prepared to hold on to JT Miller and that they believe his value now will be the same as it will be in the summer.
LeBrun added, “If you’re the New York Rangers or any other team, you’ve got to step up in a meaningful way to get the Canucks attention on JT Miller or they are happy to keep him.” (TSN)
1PM: Arthur Staple writes that Braden Schneider is believed to be the prospect that Vancouver “wants most” from the Rangers in exchange for JT Miller. (The Athletic)
Frank Seravalli wrote that teams are getting mixed messages about whether Vancouver will actually trade Miller. (Daily Faceoff)
Larry Brooks said on the NY Post podcast that the Rangers began talking about Miller with Vancouver before the Canucks fired GM Jim Benning.
2/14/22 | Chris Johnston says that the Rangers have “kept tabs” on Miller, but it is unclear if Vancouver will move him. (The Star)
Arthur Staples writes that the Rangers have “inquired” about Miller and could be at the “front of the line” if Vancouver decides to move him. (The Athletic)
2/9/22 | At Sportsnet, Elliotte Friedman wrote that the Vancouver Canucks are still deciding what to do with JT Miller, but that his “guess” is that the Rangers “made a run” at trying to trade for him.
He is signed through next season with a cap hit of $5.25 million.
Miller, 29 next month, has 162 points in 166 games over the last three years with Vancouver and had 18 points in 17 playoff games in 2019-20.
Frank Seravalli wrote in December that “a number of teams have been circling around Miller” and one of them was the Rangers. (Daily Faceoff)
Seravalli wrote on 2/9 that the Rangers “primary target (by a long shot) is Miller. (Daily Faceoff)
On November 30th, Larry Brooks wrote in the NY Post that Miller would fit the Rangers need on the right side in the top-six and they would “certainly be interested” depending on the price to acquire him.
On January 26th, Brooks wrote that the price Vancouver was asking for Miller was “astronomical,” but likely to drop, but that acquiring Miller could mean the end of Ryan Strome’s time with the Rangers after the season.
In that same article, Brooks mentions the idea of Alexis Lafreniere and the Canucks because of Chris Kreider and Artemi Panarin ahead of him on the left side and because Vancouver hired Lafreniere’s agent Emilie Castonguay to be an assistant GM. (NY Post)
Scott Burnside wondered at Daily Faceoff if the Rangers would trade Lafreniere to Vancouver for JT Miller.
Burnside said that the Rangers are “all-in” and that Miller would be a “dynamic fit.” (Daily Faceoff)
On 2/8, Brooks suggests that the Rangers offer Nils Lundkvist and Filip Chytil to Vancouver for Miller. (NY Post Sports Plus)
On 2/8, Dave Pagnotta said on the NHL Network “JT Miller has one year left on his deal, there is already, I believe, a pretty substantial offer from the New York Rangers that has been placed on the table. They are going to look to see what else the market has to bear for him, they don’t have to make a decision just yet.”
Adam Rotter: Miller has turned into the player that the Rangers thought he would be when they took him 15th in 2011. He, like Chris Kreider, eliminated the inconsistency from his game and he has turned into a top-line/top-six power forward. It took Miller until he got to his third team to realize his potential, but he’s turned into one of the better power wingers in the league.
Would he fit with the Rangers? Definitely, but at what cost? Some combination of young, but seemingly second-tier players/prospects like Filip Chytil, Vitali Kravtsov, Nils Lundkvist, possibly Zac Jones, but it seems, as of now, that it’s one or the other with Lundkvist and Jomes, and maybe a first round pick would seem to work from the Rangers end of it. But the talk should stop if Kaapo Kakko, Braden Schneider or Alexis Lafreniere are brought up.
I don’t think Kakko, Schneider and Lafreniere are totally untouchable, but it seems very unlikely that the Rangers would move ant of them for a player in his late 20s and that can be a free agent after next year. Now if Vancouver was willing to discuss Elias Pettersson, that would be another story. Pettersson, 23, has struggled, like most non-Miller Canucks have this year, and his $7.35 million cap hit would be hard to absorb, but that is the kind of player I think you’d move someone like Lafreniere for. It’s an easy connection to make with Lafreniere and Vancouver because his agent now works there, but I don’t think it goes further than that.
I don’t think the Rangers are interested in moving Lafreniere and if he finds his way on the right side in the next few weeks with Chris Kreider and Mika Zibanejad then a move for Miller may not even be needed.
Back to Miller, Vancouver doesn’t have to move him and the Rangers won’t be the only team interested. Moving Miller would be the first big move for the new Vancouver hockey ops group and so I don’t think they will move him unless they feel they can get a massive return. The Rangers can certainly meet that return, but not if it costs them Alexis Lafreniere.