The Vancouver Canucks trade talk remains a stubborn focus despite their surprising win Saturday. The 3-2 victory was overshadowed before the game started. Elliott Friedman suggested J.T. Miller was a late addition to the lineup.
Canucks Trade Talk Still Top Topic
A lot has gone wrong with the Vancouver Canucks this season. Some involved their game on the ice, with shot regression, injuries, and mediocre play. But that’s not the town’s talk.
With the stumbling Canucks facing a rampaging Edmonton Oilers club, most ears honed in on trade talk. Instead of the narrative being a team seeking revenge for a blowout loss at home, it was one of the stars dressing for the game. Because Miller not playing that night was a distinct possibility.
The game, fortunately, or not, changed a lot of the discussion. Instead of the despondent Vancouver fans seeing another blowout loss, the Canucks played a tight, determined match. The team with eight wins since the calendar flipped lost to one with just two. Quinn Hughes led the way again, but that’s expected by now.
That determination may have gone overboard at the end. Still, even that is a relief from the usual late conversation. A new topic to chew over is whether the league will treat the two crosschecks equally. There is a difference in talent between McDavid and Tyler Myers, but each threw a crosscheck to their opponent’s face.
To our eyes, Conor Garland and Connor McDavid getting tangled up is a late-game match that could easily have been a penalty to Garland. The stickwork afterward is what makes it unique. As for the Myers check on Evan Bouchard, that looked like a boneheaded execution of a standard play. Players entering the opponents’ zone get slowed regularly, and Myers went half a meter too high.
Myers will definitely be punished for it, and McDavid will, too. The difference will be interesting.
Up Off the Ice
Miller picking up two assists in a 3-2 win is too little, too late in what feels like an inevitability. He said the right words after a game in which he played the right way, but the Canucks “Trade Miller” talk has been going on too long. We don’t want to be cruel, as between his absence and his words, something is happening we’re not privy to. And that’s entirely his business, not ours.
However, hockey is a business in Vancouver; it has taken a downturn. Factions had appeared in the dressing room, something that’s been known for a few years. But as the maxim has it, winning fixes everything, and last season involved a lot of winning. It’s easier to overlook a coworker you don’t get along with when everyone’s getting bonuses.
With those wins drying up, factions can become fissures. Vancouver was the 23rd team in the league to reach 20 wins this season, with the Seattle Kraken following suit shortly after. They are currently outside the playoff wildcard slots. Having all this come on the heels of one of the most successful seasons in team history makes it all the more obvious something’s wrong.
Both captain Quinn Hughes and coach Rick Tocchet have publicly commented on the rift, which is never a great sign. This is surprisingly public for a team notorious for not releasing any information about anything until most media was in bed. It wouldn’t be a surprise if some reporters stayed up well past their bedtimes just in case news broke post-game.
Do Canucks Talk Trade or Not? Yes! But…
Again, a fractious dressing room doesn’t necessarily spell doom for a team. Vancouver fans can look to the team that obliterated the Canucks in the finale of their six-game, nine-day road trip. The Winnipeg Jets were notorious for their team having factions and constant personality battles, and now they’re at the top of the league.
All they had to do was overhaul their team with a buyout and a few significant trades. So, uh… We forget where we were going with this.
A trade isn’t inevitable if it is only because there needs to be a willing partner for one to work with. We don’t know who pulled the plug on a possible move to the Rangers, but it wasn’t Miller. A few teams have permission to talk to his agent, though the Canucks are keeping a lid on who. The list will be self-limiting, given his contract and age. And if he says no, then it’s not happening.
As frustrating as it is to read about potential trades and rumours of trades for weeks, it’s got to be better than living through it. Miller has repeatedly said he doesn’t want to leave. Ultimately, he may stay until the offseason, when deals of this magnitude are easier to figure out. It might not be the best option, but it’s an option.
There are many reasons for a deal not to happen and only one for a deal to occur. If they delay long enough for the team to have a four-game winning streak, that might end all the talk for now. It’s a weird game and weirder things than this have happened.
It would be nice if everyone held off talking about it until Natalie Miller was finished. No, seriously.
Main photo by: Bob Frid-Imagn Images
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