Vancouver Canucks centre J.T. Miller (9) skates during the second period of an NHL hockey game against the Anaheim Ducks in Anaheim, Calif., Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Alex Gallardo)

VANCOUVER — J.T. Miller has spent ample time over his NHL career learning how to channel his emotions.

He'll put the lessons to use Tuesday when he takes the ice in Vancouver for the first the Canucks dealt him to the New York Rangers.

“It's going to be emotional for me, no doubt," Miller said after skating with his teammates Tuesday morning.

"I’m just trying to worry about our task at hand for the Rangers. I know that emotion is going to be there. I'm just going to try to use it to the best of my ability as I can, try to the best of my ability to stay focused.”

The Rangers arrived in Vancouver on Sunday and had a day off on Monday, which Miller spent trying to see as many people as he could. His wife and two daughters joined him in B.C., making the trip particularly special.

“Definitely brought back a lot of feelings when we landed at the airport, for sure," he said.

The 32-year-old centre from East Palestine, Ohio, played parts of six seasons for Vancouver after the team acquired him from the Tampa Bay Lightning in June 2019.

He contributed 152 goals and 285 assists across 404 regular-season games for the Canucks, and was an integral part of the club's playoff runs in 2020 and 2024.

Chants of "J-T Mill-er!" regularly echoed through Rogers Arena.

"A lot of good memories here," Miller said. "Some of my best friends still play on the other side. The way that the city treated myself and my family, it's something we'll never forget."

The Canucks dealt him to the Rangers at the end of January after the club's president of hockey operations publicly confirmed a long-rumoured rift between Miller and fellow centre Elias Pettersson.

In an interview with a Globe and Mail, Jim Rutherford saidhe didn't see a way to keep the roster together amid the spat.

Asked Tuesday whether he was disappointed about how his time in Vancouver ended, Miller focused on how much he loved his time in the city.

“Everything happens. You can't go back and change anything," he said. "Obviously, it's ugly sometimes at the end. But I think for the majority of the time I was here, it's been all positive.

"I didn't expect (the end) to be pretty, and it wasn't. But definitely still a lot of friendship and a lot of good memories and a lot of good things that came from that came from that experience. So I'm happy."

With both players now top-line centres for their respective teams, Miller and Pettersson are likely to matchup against one another on Tuesday night.

“J.T. is an unbelievable player. He plays hard. And if I get matched up with him tonight, I'm going to try to be on the winning side," Pettersson said of the looming battle.

Miller closed out last season with 13 goals and 22 assists across 35 regular-season games for the Rangers, and was named the team's captain in September.

He has another six points (two goals, four assists) in 10 games so far this season, but New York has struggled to consistently find its offence.

The Rangers come to Vancouver with a 3-5-2 record, having lost six of its last seven outings (1-4-2) — and Miller is eager to see that change.

“I've liked a lot about my game so far this season," he said. "We're having a hard time putting pucks in the net as a group right now. But the goal is to not deviate from most of the good that we've done so far. And we need a good first period today as a team. And that's really all we're worried about.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 28, 2025.

News from © The Canadian Press, 2025