Canucks’ Jim Rutherford: J.T. Miller ‘tried hard’ to fix situation with Elias Pettersson
Former Vancouver Canucks center J.T. Miller made attempts to solve the locker room tension with center Elias Pettersson, before heading to the New York Rangers, Canucks’ President of Hockey Operations Jim Rutherford said on Monday.
While it was no secret that the Canucks’ two top forwards at the start of the 2024-25 season had struggled to get along, the American center looked to solve the locker room chemistry, in hopes of keeping the Canucks a strong Stanley Cup Playoff contender.
“J.T. tried hard to help fix the situation. A lot of people in our organization worked on it, and we had hoped that it could get back to where it was a year ago, because the same two players played a year ago, both had good years, and the team won the division,” Rutherford told reporters at his end-of-season media availability.
“This was a situation that wasn’t as easy to resolve in a matter of a day or a week, but when we got to the point that everybody in the organization felt that it wasn’t going to be resolved, we had to look at what all the options were.”
Eventually, the Canucks asked Miller which teams he would be willing to go to and orchestrated a trade with the Rangers on Jan. 31, bringing back center Filip Chytil, defenseman Victor Mancini, and a first-round pick in the 2025 NHL Draft, which they then flipped to the Pittsburgh Penguins as part of a deal for blueliner Marcus Pettersson and left winger Drew O’Connor.
Jim Rutherford addresses the J.T. Miller and Elias Pettersson drama this season that affected the team chemistry.
🎥: Sportsnet pic.twitter.com/YZ3orZymdF
“I think a lot of things were personal. I don’t believe that it was just down to two people. It filtered into the whole team, or most of the team, and affected the chemistry,” Rutherford added. “J.T. was getting anxious, and he wanted to make it very clear that he did want to be traded… but it wasn’t just about trading him, all options were on the table.”
While Miller went on to score 13 goals and 35 points in 32 games with the Rangers through the rest of the season, Pettersson’s offensive struggles only slightly improved in Vancouver, ending the season with 15 goals and 45 points in 64 games.
Neither the Canucks or Rangers qualified for the playoffs, but Rutherford holds hope that Pettersson can return in better form for 2025-26, after not being adequately prepared for the start of training camp in 2024-25.
“There were signs of [Pettersson] going in the right direction. He’s a guy who’s always going to be able to get his points. But can you be a contending team with your top player just getting points? I can answer that question, the answer is no,” Rutherford said. “He’s going to have to buy into being a complete player. He’s going to have to buy into working hard.”
“It’s a small step, but he’s been in here working every day now for the last few days…and we know that he’s working hard, he’s not just stopping in for a cup of coffee, so that’s a good sign, but he’s gonna have to do that all summer.”
Pettersson, now 26, is the highest-paid player on the Canucks, after signing an eight-year, $92,800,000 contract with a cap hit of $11,600,000 per season, in March, 2024.