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Vancouver Canucks teammate makes his feelings known about J.T. Miller's return from long leave of absence

Modified Dec 13, 2024 18:57 GMT

Vancouver Canucks forward and alternate captain J.T. Miller returned to the ice after a 10-game absence. The 31-year-old forward is in his 13th NHL season and has also played with the New York Rangers and Tampa Bay Lightning.

Previous to this season, Miller has demonstrated exceptional availability, missing only seven games in his five years with Vancouver. Not much is known about his absence, with the cause undisclosed and being labeled as due to personal reasons.

On Thursday, a day ahead of the Canucks' 4-0 win against the Florida Panthers, J.T. Miller addressed the media and discussed his imminent return.

"So I'm here with the team, and I am ready to look forward to what's going to happen in the future, not necessarily what has happened in the past.

"From all you guys, you can ask all you want, but I'm not going to dive into the reasons why I wasn't here the last three, four weeks."

Canucks teammate Brock Boeser also talked to the media about Miller's absence, lauding his courage:

“I don't really know what he's going through, but I'm sure there's some similarities and differences. It takes courage to get that help, especially when everyone knows about it."

Canucks coach Rick Tocchet credits J.T. Miller for performance against Florida

J.T. Miller's return to the team has certainly been well-received by players and fans, and with the Canucks fourth in the Pacific, Vancouver will hope it can be a further boost as we approach the Christmas period.

Before the game, coach Rick Tocchet spoke to reporters about Miller's return, explaining how exciting both he and his players are:

“I'm excited. He's excited. The players are excited. You know, he's one of the best players in the league, so when you get a guy back in the lineup like that it means a lot."

Tocchet was asked whether Miller would be the same player, to which he replied:

“A hundred per cent,” Tocchet said. “You know, he plays the game the way it should be played, with a lot of fire. I don't expect anything different. The overall fire thing, yeah, I love it.”

Tocchet was right, as Miller notched 2 assists in the Canucks' 4-0 win over Florida. He spoke to the media after the game, crediting his ability to perform after a long absence:

"He's arguably one of the best players in the league. He's a big part of our team. That's hard to do - Not play for a month, and come in there and do what he did.

"He had a couple points. But I thought he, played him against Barkov, he played 14-15 minutes." Tocchet added. "It's kind of what I wanted to play him. I thought he did a good job against Barkov. He's a big guy in the middle. It's tough to go around him." (9:32)

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Vancouver prepares to host the 15-13-3 Boston Bruins on Saturday night, who are on a two-game losing streak. The Canucks will be hoping to come away with a win to potentially catch the Oilers and Kings in the Pacific division.