Elias Pettersson, JT Miller Rift "Taking Its Toll" on Canucks Teammates

Vancouver Canucks star forwards Elias Pettersson and JT Miller have both had trying seasons, struggling out of the gate, and Miller even took a personal leave from the team for a few weeks.

Now we're hearing more about a rift between the two players that has been simmering, and is "taking its toll" on their teammates, and the entire organization, per insider Elliotte Friedman, as he revealed on Hockey Night in Canada.

It’s not new to people who follow the Canucks that [Miller] and Pettersson have a unique relationship, to say the least. But three things have kind of brought it again into the forefront right now. Number one, the Canucks had thought this was solved last year... Obviously, that wasn’t the case.
“Number two, it’s bled into the way they’ve played on the ice, and that can’t happen. You can’t have it affect the way the team and the players are playing. And number three, and this is probably the most important one, it has started to take its toll on the other people in the organization. The players, the coaching staff, and the hockey operations department.

Is this coming to a head where one of them has to go if it isn't resolved?

"No, I don’t think there’s a timeline or anything like that, like they haven’t started the clock, but eventually, I think everybody realized something is going to have to give,” concluded Friedman.

Pettersson tried to blow the whole thing off as a nothing-burger, but nobody is buying it.

"I don't know why people still try and make s**t up."

Elias Pettersson addresses the reported rift between him and J.T. Miller. pic.twitter.com/6DblnvHSlZ
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) December 22, 2024

"I don't know why people still try and make s**t up," said Pettersson.

But the comments of his head coach and captain clearly indicate that there is a problem, and that they're working on it.

Coach Rick Tochhet spoke about the rift between Pettersson and Miller earlier, by saying “Whether people are bickering or complaining, it happens all the time... But, you also need to be mature, too. You don’t have to play PlayStation together or go to dinner together, but [if] it’s your turn to go to the net, go to the net. It’s really what it comes down to.”

Captain Quinn Hughes addressed it thusly:

“100% I believe it’s workable, and I know it’s workable. We saw it last year. I think that both of them have been going through their own struggles this year. I believe in both of them; they’re both great players and great people. Like I said, there’s times where we all get into it but it is a family in here and we just have to continue to push forward and play the way we want to play."