VANCOUVER — J.T. Miller isn’t hiding from the fact that Tuesday night will bring a rush of memories. Instead, he’s looking to harness those emotions.
“I understand there’s gonna be some distractions,” the New York Rangers’ captain said following a morning skate at Rogers Arena. “I’m trying my best to put this all towards the right thing.”
For the first time since being traded from the Canucks to the Rangers last January, Miller is back in Vancouver. It hit him as soon as the plane landed late Sunday night, which he said “brought back a lot of feelings.”
The 32-year-old described it as “a special place,” one where his family grew and his NHL career took off. His wife, Natalie, and two daughters, Scotlyn and Scarlett, joined him for the trip and spent Monday catching up with old friends and teammates.
It’s also the place where Miller says he learned to use his well-documented intensity as a means to maximize his considerable talent.
“It’s something I think I’ve embraced,” he explained. “There were a lot of ups and downs while I was here, too. It wasn’t like it was smooth sailing the whole time. I embrace who I am as a human. I like who I am as a person and a player. Emotion comes with that. Obviously, it’s not gonna be pretty all the time, but it’s just something we’ve got to deal with. I understand that there’s a little extra weight for me to make sure that I’m dialed in on a daily basis. That’s a high priority for me.”
For five seasons, the results were largely positive. Miller went from a player who had a reputation for immaturity and volatility to one of the NHL’s premier forwards. He became a driving force for the Canucks, culminating with a career-high 103 points in 2023-24 as he led Vancouver to 50 wins and a Pacific Division title. But the very next season, it began to spiral in the opposite direction.
The Canucks stumbled on the ice and were consumed by drama off of it. At the heart of the turmoil was a reported feud between Miller and the team’s other top center, Elias Pettersson. It became untenable in the eyes of Vancouver president of hockey operations Jim Rutherford, who ultimately accepted an offer from the Rangers that included a first-round pick, defenseman Victor Mancini and talent-but-oft-injured center Filip Chytil.
Elias Pettersson wasn’t in the mood to entertain J.T. Miller questions from local media. When asked about facing him tonight, he deadpanned, “I played against him last year, too” and left it at that. Didn’t bite much on follow-ups, either. Definitely felt like a touchy subject.
— Vince Z. Mercogliano (@vzmercogliano) October 28, 2025
Pettersson wasn’t interested in making a big deal of Miller’s return, gruffly reminding reporters that they’d already played against each other when the Canucks visited New York on Mar. 22. When asked about going head-to-head again, he referred to his former teammate as “an unbelievable player,” adding, “If I’m matched up with him tonight, I’ll try to be on the winning side.”
Miller didn’t want to look back, either, but he was more forthcoming about the rocky divorce.
“You can’t go back and change anything,” Miller said. “It’s ugly sometimes at the end, but I think for the majority of the time I was here, it’s been all positive. It’s been a lot of good things. I’m not going to sit here and dwell over the way it ended. I didn’t expect that to be pretty, but there’s definitely still a lot of friendships and a lot of good memories and a lot of good things that came from that experience. So, I’m happy.”
Miller repeatedly expressed gratitude for the Canucks and their fans — “The way the city treated myself and my family, it’s something we’ll never forget,” he said — but he’s also grateful for how it turned out. He landed back with the team that drafted him, and within eight months, was named the 29th captain in Rangers’ history.
“At the end of the day, it was the best for both sides,” he said.
It was a surprising choice in some respects, especially for those who saw the situation deteriorate so quickly in Vancouver. But Rangers team president Chris Drury and coach Mike Sullivan were willing to gamble on Miller in the name of pushing the team in a grittier direction.
“Dru and I had a certain comfort level that at this stage in his career, he’s prepared to handle that responsibility,” Sullivan said. “The way he plays the game personifies the type of team from an identity standpoint that we’re trying to build. He’s a fierce competitor. He’s a talented player and has the ability to make plays on the offensive side, but he’s hard to play against at the same time.”
There’s risk involved — just ask the Canucks — but Sullivan is attempting to mitigate that by forging a close relationship with his captain.
“Sometimes that letter can be heavy,” Sullivan said. “We don’t want that to be the case for him. We’re going to support him in every way we can. Chris Drury and I have had a number of conversations with him about that. I talked to J.T. daily about the vision for this team, the messaging to the group. I look at him as almost an extension of our coaching staff.”
It amounts to a clean slate for both teams, but neither can declare itself the trade winner at this early juncture. Chytil and Mancini will both miss Tuesday’s game due to injury, while the Rangers enter with only three wins in their first 10 games.
The losses weigh heavily on Miller, whose ability to maintain steady leadership will be put to the test if New York continues to sag. The rush of competing against his former team in front of a crowd that once embraced him could add to the pressure, but it could also work in his favor if he channels it properly.
“It’s going to be emotional for me, no doubt,” Miller said. “I’m just trying to worry about our task at hand for the Rangers. I know that emotion is going to be there. I’m just trying to try to use it to the best of my ability.”
