Vancouver Canucks star winger J.T. Miller has been frequently mentioned in trade rumors over the last two years, but such speculation has quieted down thanks largely to the club’s hot start.
The Canucks have been a top early season surprise, going 9-2-1 in their first 12 games. Miller has been a key reason why, with seven goals and 18 points through those 12 contests. At this rate, it looks like Miller will be a point per game player for the third straight year and for the fourth time in five seasons.
But Miller is also 30 years of age, and he’s only in the first season of a seven-year pact worth $56 million. If the Canucks want to manage their long-term salary cap picture wisely, GM Patrik Allvin should shop Miller and try to perform a pure “hockey trade” that can help Vancouver in the present and the future.
Miller’s old team, the New York Rangers, make perfect sense as a trade partner here. Artemi Panarin (20 points in his first 12 games) and Chris Kreider (nine goals, three assists) are carrying the offense, but it’s obvious that Peter Laviolette’s team could use another top-line forward.
The Rangers should offer 2020 first overall pick Alexis Lafrenière and 2023 first-round pick and prospect Gabe Perreault for Miller.
Perreault isn’t NHL-ready and thus doesn’t help the Rangers’ win-now timeline, and Lafrenière hasn’t come close to living up to his sky-high expectations. Incredibly, the latter has yet to hit 20 goals or 40 points in a season.
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But Miller would give the Rangers a game-changing point-per-game player to help Panarin and Kreider. Lafrenière and Perreault would be two nice young pieces for the Canucks to work with, and the former could finally reach his All-Star potential playing alongside superstar centre Elias Pettersson.
