Canucks Trade Star JT Miller to Rangers in Blockbuster Package Deal

The other shoe just dropped.

Star center J.T. Miller is on his way back to the New York Rangers as the Vancouver Canucks are shipping the center for Filip Chytil, Vincent Mancini and a protected first-round draft pick per NHL insider Frank Seravalli.

He has been scratched from Vancouver’s lineup for Friday night’s road game against the Dallas Stars.

Defensemen Jackson Dorrington and Erik Branstrom will accompany Miller as the returning package to bolster the Rangers’ blue line depth.

In regards to the protected pick, if the Rangers’ first rounder ends up in the top 13, the pick will transfer to 2026.

Read more: Rangers Predicted to Swing Trade For Canucks’ JT Miller Ahead of Deadline

Vancouver is not retaining any money on Miller’s contract, adding some incentive to the transaction. Miller is on the third year of a seven-year, $54 million contract with $8 million AAV.

Rangers general manager Chris Drury was reported to have attempted landing Miller a couple of times already this season, including a report that a deal was in the works involving Chytil with defenseman Ryan Lindgren two weeks ago, which ultimately fell through in the eleventh hour.

Read more: Rangers’ Failed Trade Package for JT Miller Revealed: Report

This trade comes three days after Canucks president Jim Rutherford said to the Globe and Mail that there was “no good solution” to the ongoing reported rift between Miller and teammate Elias Pettersson, implying that a trade involving one of them was imminent.

“I felt like for a long time that there was a solution here because everybody has worked on it, including the parties involved,” Rutherford said. “But it only gets resolved for a short period of time and then it festers again, and so it certainly appears like there’s no good solution that would keep this group together.”

When asked about Rutherford’s comments this week, Miller deflected with a curt response.

“I don’t have one,” Miller said.

Miller returns to the Rangers nearly seven years after being dealt to the Tampa Bay Lightning at the trade deadline in 2018 by then-general manager Jeff Gorton.

He was drafted in the first round of the 2011 NHL Draft by New York while Drury was still active as the team’s captain. Miller went on to tally 172 points in 341 games over parts of six seasons on Broadway.

In the years since, Miller has emerged as one of the NHL’s elite centermen, achieving his first 100-point campaign and All-Star bid for Vancouver in 2023-24.

This move not only strengthens the Rangers down the middle, but adds the “meat and potatoes” that they have been looking for after getting bullied out of the playoffs by the Florida Panthers last spring.

As for the Canucks, it is likely their hands were tied as the drama continued to cast larger shadows over the locker room by the day. They also create some mental breathing room for Pettersson, who has struggled mightily through the noise of this season.

The Rangers will next face the Boston Bruins on the road Saturday at 3 p.m. ET. It remains unconfirmed whether he will be in the lineup, but the team is hopeful he will play.

More J.T. Miller News:

Canucks’ Rick Tocchet Seemingly Takes Shot at JT Miller Amid Trade Rumors

Canucks’ JT Miller Responds to Trade Rumors, ‘Whatever Happens, Happens’