J.T. Miller, Mr. Misunderstood, has Canucks on brink of Conference Final berth

VANCOUVER — In the hours after the Canucks’ Game 4 loss in Edmonton, J.T. Miller typed out a text message to coach Rick Tocchet and hit send.

“It’s an honest group,” Tocchet said on Wednesday. “I mean, J.T. Miller texted me today, ‘Sorry, I had a bad [game].’”

The heartbeat of the Vancouver Canucks did a little soul searching. What the best player in Round 1 found was a moment of pure ecstasy on Thursday night as he netted the game-winner with 31.9 seconds remaining, delivering a resounding 3-2 victory and a pivotal 3-2 series lead. The Canucks can advance to their first Western Conference Final since 2011 with a win on Saturday night in Edmonton.

For Miller and the rest of the Canucks’ core that together waded through a swamp years deep of blame and negativity, it was a moment that even in their wildest dreams, they probably couldn’t have squinted hard enough to see and hear what they felt in Game 5.

Eighteen months ago, you couldn’t go 30 minutes without a reference on Sekeres & Price or Canucks Conversation to Miller’s $56 million contract being referred to as an anvil hanging from the Canucks’ neck. Vancouver essentially picked Miller over captain Bo Horvat. That didn’t go over well after Horvat started with 26 goals by Christmas and Miller’s production slid. The Canucks themselves flirted with the idea of trading Miller to Pittsburgh as recently as March 2023, before this supposed anvil of a contract kicked in.

So for chants of “J-T MILL-ER” to reverberate through Rogers Arena as he raised his arms in celebration?

For “J-T MILL-ER” to echo through the viaducts surrounding the arena, the nearby casino and tap rooms around the city deep into the night? Come on, that’s the stuff of fantasy.

“You know, for Millsy to get that in the last minute, it’s a great feeling,” teammate Tyler Myers said. “The crowd was unbelievable. That moment was pretty special.”

In Vancouver, in a lot of ways, Miller was Mr. Misunderstood. He has this live edge to him, a competitive fire that rages, both of which to his own admission have been his undoing at times. He is honest, he is raw, and ask a few teammates and former teammates – he can be ruthless.

“He obviously wears his heart on his sleeve,” Tocchet said. “And he’ll tell you – when he sucks, he sucks. That’s what I love about him. And there hasn’t been many suck games from him. He’s been a monster for me since I’ve been here, like since Day 1. It was a monster effort again.”

Miller is unapologetically himself. Tocchet is equally forthright. There has also been a lot of growing and self-reflection there, Miller acknowledging that in previous playoff runs, he was more wrapped up in ice time and other selfish interests that he put himself before the team.

In a lot of ways, for Tocchet – the same guy who was the Phil Kessel Whisperer in Pittsburgh – Miller was his biggest project when hired last spring. He had to wring the ‘stink’ out of the Canucks, as captain Quinn Hughes phrased it, and then he had to find a way to harness and channel all of the amazingly positive attributes about Miller.

So that when you need someone to drag your team into the fight and dance on the wonderfully blurred line in the Stanley Cup playoffs that separates aggressive from overboard, you want a lineup of 18 J.T. Millers.

“He drives the bus,” Myers said. “The way he stepped up tonight, it’s really fun to watch. He’s an unbelievable competitor.”

Which is why Game 5 felt so good, right? The Comeback Canucks have eked out some circus-like victories this spring, including a three-goal reversal in Game 1, on top of evaporating a two-goal hole in the final two minutes in Nashville in Round 1. They won a few games they probably should not have won.

But on Thursday night, they earned every ounce of their success. They flipped the script and their stars outworked the Oilers’ stars. It’s a simple game sometimes. They took to heart the tweaks that Tocchet and his staff had poured over in this chess match, holding a Harlem Globetrotters-like power play – which had scored in every game so far these playoffs – to an 0-for-5 night. They didn’t sit back. They were the aggressors. 

“I saw a little more urgency in our play,” Tocchet said. “You can’t back off and you can’t dive in. I mean, it organically has to happen.”

Miller embodies every part of that. His superpower is his compete. He acknowledged that the Canucks maybe gave Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl “a little too much respect” and were “playing to not get scored on.” That’s the thing about Miller: when that fire is raging, he can be in that conversation of the best in the world.

The joke at All-Star Weekend was that it was the 11 best players in the world plus J.T. Miller on the ice for the Skills Competition. But then you page through the stats since Miller arrived in Vancouver in 2019 and you realize that he ranks 11th in league scoring with 402 points in 364 games, which is 22 more than Sidney Crosby in that span.

“I have faith in myself,” Miller said. “I speak honestly with you guys [the media] whether it’s good or bad. I really just didn’t like my game the other night. I was honestly evaluating myself.”

The Oilers are taking the same look in the mirror now. They’re on the ropes, chasing a series that they’ve never had a lead in, against an opponent many see as inferior despite finishing five points better in the standings. This wasn’t supposed to be the Canucks’ year. They didn’t have the experience. They hadn’t learned how to win. 

It’s the Oilers who now need to show they’ve learned. The lesson? Continue to count out the Canucks at your own peril.