Jim Rutherford spoke about the feud involving JT Miller and Elias Pettersson, where it appeared he insinuated that only one of the players tried fixing the problem.
J.T. Miller tried to mend his damaged relationship with Elias Pettersson before being dealt by the Vancouver Canucks to the New York Rangers, Canucks President of Hockey Operations Jim Rutherford confirmed Monday.
The tension between Vancouver’s two powerful centers had been apparent at the start of the 2024-25 season.
Despite being against their nature, Miller attempted to grease the tension, trying to preserve team chemistry and keep the Canucks in the hunt for the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
“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.
The same could not be said about Pettersson, as Rutherford made absolutely no mention that the current Canucks player tried to resolve the issues.
“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.”
– Jim Rutherford
The Canucks ultimately decided to trade Miller, not Pettersson
Subsequently, Vancouver shopped around Miller and a Jan. 31 trade to New York sent him packing.
The Canucks received center Filip Chytil, defenseman Victor Mancini, and a first-round draft pick in 2025, which was later shipped to Pittsburgh for defenseman Marcus Pettersson and winger Drew O’Connor.
Miller thrived with the Rangers, posting 13 goals and 35 points in 32 games. Pettersson, however, showed modest gains, tallying 15 goals and 45 points in 64 games.
Both teams failed to make the playoffs. However, Rutherford is hopeful that Pettersson, whose conditioning was a concern prior to training camp, will rebound in 2025-26.
Pettersson is 26 and Vancouver’s highest-paid player after an eight-year, $92.8 million contract was signed in March of 2024.