TARRYTOWN, New York — Some of J.T. Miller’s best friends, including Conor Garland and Thatcher Demko, are still with the Canucks. He’ll get dinner with several of his former teammates Friday evening.
But don’t expect any friendly feelings to extend into the Canucks-Rangers game Saturday.
“It’s going to be a war,” Miller said.
The game will be Miller’s first against the Canucks since they traded him to New York in January. He played 404 games with Vancouver and emerged as one of the league’s premier centers while with the club. He’s one of only two players in Canucks history, along with Pavel Bure, to average more than a point per game.
The end to Miller’s Vancouver tenure was messy. His relationship with center Elias Pettersson deteriorated, and Canucks president Jim Rutherford felt he needed to move one of them, saying as much in an interview with The Globe and Mail. Miller took a leave of absence from the team in November for undisclosed reasons, then waived his no-movement clause to come to New York on Jan. 31.
Despite how everything ended, the 32-year-old Miller holds no ill will against the Canucks.
“I have nothing but great things,” he said. “Raised my three kids there. My wife and I have so many friends outside of the game. The amount of love the…
