Head coach Rick Tocchet shed light on the situation, attributing Miller’s decreased minutes to a strategic shift toward spreading ice time more evenly among forward lines, per Canucks Army's Jeff Paterson.

Even when he’s not scoring, Pettersson is among the best defensive centres in the league and consistently drives play. While Miller often gets to play with Brock Boeser, a strong two-way winger, Pettersson has carried a variety of middling players throughout the years and still managed to put up strong results.

It’s been an interesting season for J.T. Miller. From a leave of absence, to trade rumors, to on-ice struggles, Miller has been through a lot with the Vancouver Canucks. Rick Tocchet addressed Miller’s struggles and was blunt about how the veteran forward could be better.

In the immortal words of Staind, “It’s been a while…” You don’t need to spend a ton of time on social media to know that it sure sounds like a JT Miller trade is back on the menu.

It’s crystal clear that something with the Vancouver Canucks is not right. A couple of games where things started to turn in their favor came to a crashing halt on Thursday as the team lost 5-1 at home to the Los Angeles Kings.

The Vancouver Canucks lost to the Los Angeles Kings 5-1 on Thursday night. It is their 12th loss in their last 16 games, which has sent them tumbling out of the playoffs. The poor play on the ice has been overshadowed by locker-room drama involving Elias Pettersson and JT Miller.

TSN NHL insider Chris Johnston reported that the Vancouver Canucks have determined that if one of forwards JT Miller or Elias Pettersson has to be removed from their team via trade, it’ll be Miller who walks the plank.