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J.T. Miller is happy with extension; Allvin touts Canucks' forward depth |
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It's the first day of school, and the Vancouver Canucks served up a similar vibe on Tuesday morning.
After warming up with a Zoom call with J.T. Miller, the Canucks' media contingent gathered at Scotia Barn for an in-person availability with general manager Patrik Allvin to discuss the Miller signing and how things are shaping up for the year ahead.
Not surprisingly, Miller spoke again about how happy he is to have his new deal done and to be staying in Vancouver long term. He likes the closeness of the room, likes the makeup of the roster, and believes that the club has great potential.
After spending the summer working out with other Pittsburgh-area players including Brandon Saad, Vincent Trocheck, Matt Bartkowski, John Gibson and 2022 third-overall pick Logan Cooley, Miller said that he'll be making his way to Vancouver this Saturday to continue his preparations for training camp. And while mother and new baby Owen are doing well, Miller said that his wife Natalie and their three children will remain stateside until the conclusion of the Canucks' season-opening five-game road trip, which runs from Oct. 12-20.
One interesting note that has come up about Miller's extension: according to Elliotte Friedman on the latest edition of the '32 Thoughts' podcast, teams have the option of adding trade protection to the last year of an existing deal when they sign a player to a new extension. He said Montreal did that with Carey Price back when they extended him in 2017, replacing his modified no-trade clause with a full no-movement clause to match the terms of his extension.
Miller's current deal, which has one year remaining, has no trade protection. He was dealt away from Tampa Bay before the modified no-trade clause in his contract was set to kick in, and the Canucks chose not to honour it.
Miller's new deal has a full no-movement clause that takes effect next year, with a modified no-trade in the final three seasons. When asked on Tuesday if that trade protection was extended to cover the upcoming season, Allvin said it was not. But he also threw cold water on any speculation that Miller could now be easier for the Canucks to trade because he has contract certainty.
"When doing a deal like this, the plan is for J.T. to stay here this year and seven more," he stated.
When he guested on John Scott's 'Dropping The Gloves' podcast last month, Miller talked about how he has set some personal goals for himself next season — looking to add a stronger defensive element to his game and also to try to maintain his trademark passion without letting his emotions get the best of him.
"I think there's always room for improvement in your game," he said Tuesday. "I think I'd like to give up less to get more.
"I look at some of my favourite players around the league and they play in their own end first and 200-foot all the time and very hard to play against. I think I want to kind of excel to that level in my own end: be equally as hard to play against in my own end as I am on the offensive end, and I don't feel like it is right now. So that's something I'm really going to be working for.
"Team defense is so important ... I think if I can add that to my game and then once we get it in the offensive zone, just doing what comes naturally for me is really going to help, so it's been a big focus of mine going into the season.
"I think any emotional player will tell you that it brings the absolute best out of them but also can make you look bad sometimes and be a negative influence for the ones around you. I take a lot of pride in that and wear my heart on my sleeve and that can be good.
"Sometimes it can be emotional and high volatility and that's not really what you want. You want to be even-keeled but sometimes I feel like that's harder for me to do because I play with so much emotion and passion. Something I'm always always wary of and can improve on as well."
As for what comes next with the team — Allvin sounded like the roster that we're seeing now is most likely what will roll out on Day 1 of training camp.
"I guess you never know. We're still looking at all our options," he said, when asked if there would be any further additions to the back end, in particular.
"I'm happy with the defense group we have," he added. "I think when everybody's healthy, I think we're a very competitive team."
And while Allvin continues to speak very highly of Miller, he said he'd like to see them be able to dial his ice time back a bit this season. Last year, he averaged 21:05, a career high, but he had some huge nights in the second half of the season. In that crazy 2-1 win over Toronto on Feb. 12, he topped out at 26:20. All told, he had 28 games where he played over 22 minutes, with 10 of those coming during Travis Green's 25-game tenure and 18 in the 57 games under Boudreau.
When I asked if that meant we'd see Elias Pettersson take more reps in the middle this season, Allvin talked about the new forwards that are coming on board this fall. He said it's hoped that the coaching staff will have plenty of options, and that internal competition will help raise the bar all round.
As far as a new deal for Bo Horvat, Allvin didn't shed much light on the state of negotiations. He did acknowledge that every negotiation takes its own path. But as we saw last week with Miller, the landscape can change quickly when both parties are amenable to getting a deal done. And there is a certain appeal to putting these things to bed before training camp or even before the beginning of the new season, although the urgency with contract extensions is not nearly as intense as it was last year with the RFA contracts for Elias Pettersson and Quinn Hughes.
On the ice, a handful of new faces joined the group on Tuesday — Tyler Myers, Luke Schenn and Nils Hoglander.
And if you'd like to read a bit more about today's media availabilities, you can also check out my piece for The Hockey News:
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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