By: Brayden Fengler / January 8, 2025 The Elias Pettersson and J.T. Miller topic feels at this point both feels, old hat and something that we still don’t know enough about. What is clear, as much as both Miller and Pettersson have danced around the topic when directly asked in interviews, is that not everything is rosy with their relationship.
Elias Pettersson on any potential rift with J.T. Miller: "I don't know why people are still trying to make shit up."#Canucks pic.twitter.com/F6Mz6a19dw
— Lachlan Irvine (@LachInTheCrease) December 22, 2024
In sports and entertainment, when there is one star who does not get along with another star, history has often shown this to be an unsustainable situation. Both Pettersson and Miller seem committed to the Canucks when asked directly, so it remains unclear who or what will have to bend to resolve their issues.
However, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman has reported that management has been exploring options for both Pettersson and Miller.
While GM Patrik Allvin is only doing his job by considering all options, from the outside perspective, if it does have to be one over the other, the prospect of trading Elias Pettersson over J.T. Miller is ridiculous and should only be viewed as such.
Pettersson or Miller
On the surface it can certainly appear like the prospect of keeping one or the other is somewhat of a toss up. Over the last three seasons, Miller and Pettersson have both put up respectable numbers, each producing 80+ points over the last two full NHL seasons.
However, Miller has been more productive than Pettersson this season. During Millers’ 29 games played, he has 29 points to his name, whereas Pettersson with five more games played than Miller, has one less point than him this season at 28 points so far.
Miller and Petterson’s special team production are nearly the same, despite the two not playing on the same power play unit Miller has 10 points and Pettersson has nine. Each player has also brought physicality this season in effective – but different ways from one another.
Miller gives out more hits than Pettersson, delivering over seven hits a game to Pettersson’s three. With that said, Pettersson throws himself infront of the puck a bit more than Miller, blocking just under 4 shots a game while Miller blocks slightly less than 2 shots on average.
With all of that said, it does seem that the players are comparable in their ability to produce for this team, even during this challenging season. But if the Canucks need to choose between them it’s Pettersson all the way.
The Reason for Pettersson
In hockey as in life age is just a number, but unfortunately in hockey, that number matters just a little more. J.T. Miller will be 32 years in March, whereas Elias Pettersson turned 26 this past November. The age gap between these two players is greater than the average length of an NHL career, with that number being 4.5 years.
The oldest active NHL players are currently 39 years of age, with players like Alex Ovechkin and Marc-Andre Flurey up there at that level. To play almost into their 40’s, a player need to be the best of the best, and while it’s clear that yes, Miller is an exceptional player, but is he Ovechkin?
Even if Miller is Ovechkin level, we have seen the Ovechkin’s production steadily decreasing since the 2021-22 season, pointing to the reality that even the best players slow down.
Is the reason for choosing Pettersson over Miller just age? No, but that is a massive factor that should not be overlooked or considered with equal weight to other points. Pettersson is not just young, he’s good and he can be great.
Petey has proven his abilities time and time again, despite the ups and downs that have marked some years of his career, there is still more room for Pettersson to develop his game.
Miller on the other hand, is at his ceiling, and while that ceiling is high and he’s showing night in and night out how good he is still, the question with Miller is for how long can he keep this up, whereas the question with Petey is how high can he still reach.
Pettersson Is The Upside
The Canucks need to bet on Pettersson. It would be foolish for the Canucks to put all their eggs in the 30+ year-old basket only to sell Pettersson when his value is lower now than it has been, due to his slow start to the year.
Yes, J.T. Miller has a cap hit of $8M to Pettersson’s $11.6M. Is that disparity in cost compared to their production frustrating to look at, yes. But the Canucks have Pettersson locked in until the age of 33, until 2032.
Petey’s current contract is likely the last contract of this size. There is a lot of runway to continue to develop this player and keep him as a fundamental piece of a contending Canucks team. Miller will be done his deal at 37 years of age in 2030.
What will the team’s appetite be to re-sign him at that point? Will he be producing at a level higher than what Pettersson will be at that time, when Petey will still have two more years on his deal? I don’t think so.
If it has to be one or the other picking Miller over Pettersson, locker room and chemistry assumption aside, would be a scrambling choice that could blow up the club’s future.