The countdown is on. And not surprisingly, J.T. Miller's name dominates the conversations around the Vancouver Canucks ahead of Thursday's first round of the 2022 NHL Draft.
Now that all the power brokers are gathered in one place, Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff has moved Miller up to No. 2 on his trade-bait board, after hearing that a meeting between the Canucks and Miller's reps failed to bring any real hope of an agreement on a contract extension after July 13.
On Wednesday morning, the impasse was essentially confirmed by Miller's agent.
With a year remaining on his client's current contract, it's understandable that Brian Bartlett isn't throwing even more gasoline on the fire by making an outright trade request. But the return for the Canucks would presumably be better if an acquiring team in a trade has a sense that it will be able to get Miller signed to an extension after July 13.
After they apparently pursued Miller before the trade deadline, the New York Rangers seem to be figuring prominently in the mix once again. Rangers GM Chris Drury was named a finalist for general manager of the year at the NHL Awards in Tampa on June 21, alongside Stanley Cup Finalists Julien BriseBois of Tampa and Joe Sakic of Colorado. That's some pretty lofty company — and maybe that helps explain why we're hearing that Kaapo Kakko might be in the mix as part of a potential return?
Kakko played a prominent role during the Rangers' run to the Eastern Conference Final this spring, as part of the Kid Line with Alexis Lafreniere and Filip Chytil. But after picking up two goals and three assists in 19 playoff games, the second-overall pick from 2019 was also healthy-scratched by Gerard Gallant for the Rangers' pivotal Game 6 against the Tampa Bay Lightning — which turned out to be their last game of the year.
In many ways, the situation mirrors what happened with Jesperi Kotkaniemi a year earlier in Montreal — and in that case, Kotkaniemi signed an offer sheet that forced his way out of the Canadiens organization.
Kakko is also a restricted free agent without arbitration rights this summer. So an offer sheet could also be a possibility for him if he is unhappy with his treatment by the Rangers.
My big red flag on Kakko is his injury history. He was limited to just 43 games last season, going through wrist surgery which caused him to miss 31 games as well as shorter-term upper-body and lower-body injuries. At 6'3" and 205 pounds, he's a big body. But durability seems like it has been an issue for the 21-year-old in the three years since he was drafted.
The Rangers have built a deep prospect pool over the four years since they sent that notorious letter to their season-ticket holders announcing their rebuild — a decision that sparked the deal that sent Miller and Ryan McDonagh to the Tampa Bay Lightning at the 2018 trade deadline.
I still love the idea of reuniting Lafreniere with his former agent, Emilie Castonguay, in Vancouver. But I think his playoff performance this spring has made him too valuable to the Blueshirts — unless they think they'll have trouble paying him when his entry-level contract expires in a year's time. K'Andre Miller will also be coming off his entry-level deal at the end of next season, and Chytil will be a restricted free agent with arbitration rights.
New York is already budget-conscious this summer — with $10 million in cap space according to
CapFriendly and just 16 players signed. With Ryan Strome and Andrew Copp looking to test unrestricted free agency, their gaping hole at the second-line centre spot is where Miller would fit so beautifully at $5.25 million for next season. But their cap gymnastics would get trickier after that.
And it does sound like the Miller camp, understandably, is looking for a longer-tem deal for their 29-year-old client. This is his big chance to lock in life-changing financial security, but it comes at a time where teams are being squeezed hard by the flat cap, without the relief that 23 new jobs in Seattle helped provide last year and still a projected couple of years away from returning to the regular increases that we saw before the pandemic.
Pierre LeBrun leads with Miller in his latest piece for
The Athletic on Wednesday morning.
He mentions the Rangers as a possible destination, then follows up with this:
"The Canucks could wait until next year’s trade deadline to move him but I suspect it could get done this week if a team steps up with the package the Canucks are asking for."
There are also some huge names potentially coming to market next week as UFA's — available for only the cost of their new contracts. Typically, we see most of those players re-upping with their current teams in last-minute deals — last year, that was Gabriel Landeskog. So I'm not going to expect to see Johnny Gaudreau or Filip Forsberg on the move until it actually happens. It's a little disappointing that the NHL did away with that pre-free-agency interview period in the current CBA, so we no longer get the spectacles like we saw when Steven Stamkos and John Tavares went through their UFA interview processes.
Can you believe Stamkos only has two years remaining on that eight-year contract he signed when he decided to stay in Tampa back in 2016?? Though he went through a rough patch, health-wise, that deal has ultimately aged well for both sides. Stamkos put up a career-high 106 regular-season points this year and has evolved into one of the great captains in the sport.
Eight-year deals aren't always disastrous. But Stamkos is also still just 32 years old — in a very different spot on his career arc than J.T. Miller will be in Year 6 of his next contract.
Of course, all this trade talk is overshadowing the draft itself. We could see a deal go down on the draft floor, especially if picks are involved. That's what happened with Miller when he came to Vancouver in 2019 — announced on Day 2 because the deal included a 2019 third-rounder going to Tampa Bay.
The Rangers don't have a first-round pick this year — they dealt it to Winnipeg in the trade-deadline deal for Copp. And the word around the Canucks has been that they're more interested in young players who can contribute now than they are in high draft picks.
Soon, we'll see how it all shakes out!
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