Rift And Reward? Playoff Pressure Spikes On Pettersson And Canucks After Friday’s Trades

In the end, the pressure of trying to co-exist on the Vancouver Canucks proved to be too much for J.T. Miller and Elias Pettersson.

After team president Jim Rutherford brought the issue fully into the light in an explosive interview with Gary Mason of The Globe and Mail earlier this week, the team pulled the trigger on the Miller deal on Friday.

Now, Pettersson will get his chance to show that he can thrive as Vancouver’s No. 1 center and live up to his juicy $11.6 million cap hit.

Before he signed that extension on Mar. 2, 2024, Pettersson had 398 points in his first 387 NHL games, an average of 1.03 points per game. Since signing, he has 47 points in 65 games, an average of 0.72 points per game.

But during the 10 games that Miller missed while he was on his personal leave of absence earlier this season, Pettersson more than doubled that output, with 15 points.

Maybe there is something there.

The Canucks saw their three-game winning streak come to an end after Friday’s trade, losing 5-3 to a tough Dallas team. Pettersson played 22:29 on a line with Jake DeBrusk and Brock Boeser, his fourth-highest ice time of the season. With one assist for the third-straight game, he’s now riding his longest point streak since posting nine points over five games during Miller’s absence.

With the trade, the Canucks got significantly younger as they moved out the nearly 32-year-old Miller. Filip Chytil, who’s 25, isn’t the same kind of beast that Miller can be, but he’s big, fast and creative — a great package. His issues to date have been consistency and concussion problems. A secure spot in Vancouver’s top six could help him shine.

The other big piece the Canucks got back was a first-round draft pick — which Allvin kept for only a few hours before flipping it to the Pittsburgh Penguins for a pair of impending UFAs.

Marcus Pettersson is a 28-year-old left-shot defenseman who can play big minutes and kill penalties. He should help provide some relief down the stretch for Quinn Hughes, who has been averaging more than 25 minutes a game, is already playing through a hand injury, and spent the late stages of the Dallas game grimacing in pain after missing about six minutes of the third period.

Although Hughes didn’t shed any light on what was ailing him when he spoke to Sportsnet’s Dan Murphy after Friday’s game, he said “I have 48 hours to figure that out, so we’ll see how that goes.”

From the Penguins, Vancouver also picked up winger Drew O’Connor. He’s an undrafted 26-year-old who has played his way into a regular lineup spot in Pittsburgh over the past two seasons. He’s another big body and useful penalty killer — and put up 16 goals last season, playing at times with both Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby. This year, his most frequent linemates have been Kevin Hayes and Philip Tomasino.

A first-rounder seems like a high price to pay for two middle-of-the-lineup rentals. But Allvin also unloaded a couple of free-agent acquisitions from last summer to Pittsburgh, who were both signed to two-year deals and didn’t really pan out.

Vincent Desharnais was not a fit on the right side of Vancouver’s blue line and quickly became a frequent healthy scratch. His name has been mentioned in trade rumors for months. And Danton Heinen was just-OK after signing with his hometown team — a useful penalty killer, but relegated mostly to a bottom-six role.

Like Miller, Heinen is rejoining a team where he has history, having previously spent two seasons in Pittsburgh.

A couple of weeks ago, we heard that the Rangers’ attempt to acquire Miller fell apart because the Canucks weren’t willing to retain salary. When the Rangers got a look at just how much the cap ceiling is set to skyrocket over the next few seasons on Friday, the idea of committing an $8-million cap hit to a forward in his mid-30s probably didn’t look quite so daunting.

So now, the deal is done.

In New York, Miller will also face significant pressure. At his best, he’s a beast. But when he’s off his game, he can slip into selfishness and his defensive game tends to lapse. And it’s not exactly a quiet media market.

Things have been going better on Broadway lately, but the Rangers are still outside the playoff picture. They’re five points shy of a wild-card spot heading into Saturday’s action when Miller’s expected to join his new team in Boston as the Rangers take on the Bruins in a nationally televised game on ABC.

After Friday’s loss in Dallas, the Canucks return home outside a playoff berth in the West — one point behind the Calgary Flames, who made their own upgrade on Thursday night by acquiring Morgan Frost and Joel Farabee.

Related: Flyers’ Motivation Slightly Different Than Other NHL Clubs In Recent Trade Flurry

Both teams will have just one week to impress their fans with their new looks before the two-week shutdown for the 4-Nations Faceoff.

No pressure.

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