J.T. Miller reflects on season, optimistic about Canucks' future: 'This is the way'

VANCOUVER – The Mandalorian never takes off his armour in public and J.T. Miller is the same way.

The Vancouver Canucks’ titanic forward, who displayed the best and worst of his emotions on the ice this season, even sounded Mandalorian when he described the sustainability of what his National Hockey League team achieved over the last two months: “This is the way.”

That’s the creed of the Mandalorians, a tribe of stoic warriors spun off from the Star Wars franchise, who live by a code of ideals and traditions.

When you think about it, J.T. Miller would make a pretty freaking awesome Mandalorian, vilified by some, revered by others, but always ready to fight.

In an interview during the final week of one of the most dramatic and divisive seasons in Canucks history, which ended Thursday with Vancouver’s 5-4 overtime win in Arizona and 22^nd place in the standings, Miller, 29, removed his armour.

He is about to start a seven-year, $56-million contract extension that became a flashpoint for fan outrage when both the player and the team stumbled from the starting gate last fall. Both recovered after months of melodrama ended with Rick Tocchet replacing Bruce Boudreau as head coach in January, but not nearly soon enough to prevent the Canucks from missing the Stanley Cup tournament for the seventh time in eight years.

Miller’s strong finish, when he drove possession for Tocchet and played the best two-way hockey of his life, left him with 32 goals and 82 points – frustrating skeptics who said he’d never be a point-a-game player again after his 99-point campaign a year ago.

But his new contract and its initial full no-movement clause doesn’t begin until July 1, and the player from Ohio is sure to hear a lot more trade conjecture before then.

About this, Miller doesn’t care. About almost everything else, he does.

“I don't know if you've seen a sh-- show like (the Canucks’ first half),” Miller told Sportsnet as the Canucks embarked on their final three-game road trip. “I just got outside my lane, and then it distracted my work and created bad habits. It's very simple. I'm not proud of it, but I think that’s what happened. And since we've had the fresh start, I'm just playing hockey.

“If my character was ever questioned -- which I'm sure it was -- I think (the second half) says a lot. This was really hard for me, to be honest with you. But my character is to push through and bring my game a lot of nights, and I thought that after the. . . low point for me, I think the way I responded says enough about my character. There's going to be parts of next year that people don't like either, but I'm trying to make it as little as possible.”

The “low-point” for Miller was a two-game sequence at the end of December during road losses to the Winnipeg Jets and Calgary Flames. In the first game, he slammed his stick over the net (while possessing the puck) to get goalie Collin Delia to scurry to the bench for an extra attacker. And in the next, he turned over the puck and quit on a backcheck.

A lot of criticism for the first offence was silly. All the criticism for the second was warranted. Miller was roasted by Hockey-Night-in-Canada panelists Elliotte Friedman, Kevin Bieksa and Kelly Hrudey. It was a turning point for Miller, although the turning point for the team came later.

Forced by the Bo Horvat trade to return to centre from left wing, Miller had 41 points in 35 games under Tocchet, won 57 per cent of his faceoffs, was plus-nine and led Vancouver in five-on-five Corsi (54.8%) and shot-share (55.5) despite having one of the lowest PDOs (the sum of on-ice team shooting percentage and save percentage) on the Canucks.

He said everyone looked better under Tocchet, who introduced accountability and defensive priorities. But nobody looked more transformed than Miller.

“Your word, sustainable, I mean, this is the way,” he said. “It's just easier to win games if you're giving up less. If you're defending harder, you'll make other teams make the first mistake. I just think that since Rick got here with his staff, they're making it very black and white for us. There's been a lot more accountability around here. They've done a really good job of making sure that guys know exactly what we're doing. A lot of guys have looked really good since then (because) our team has played better as a group.”

And next season?

“The last few years, our starts have been terrible,” Miller said. “We need to move on. We've done a lot as an organization to kind of get where we're at right now. We've moved a lot of pieces, (done) and a lot of things to get where we're at. I'm looking forward to resetting this summer and coming back with a fresh start. But having the last 30 games here or however many games we've spent here to know what to expect. . . it's on the leaders and the leadership to make sure that we're leading by example and getting the group to follow. Once that happens, it's going to become part of our game; we won't have to think about it. (Tocchet) always says it’s like brushing your teeth. It's just going to be so natural for us. Routine.”

Miller said he spoke with general manager Patrik Allvin during the worst spell of the season and was assured that he is part of the Canucks’ future, and he is unconcerned about the trade rumours sure to resurface between now and Canada Day.

“It means literally nothing to me,” he said. “None of it's real.”

Nearly all the debate about the prudence of Miller’s $56-million extension is within the context of the team as it struggles with the salary cap.

But here’s another question: That a debate rages over Miller after he has produced 299 points in 283 games while missing only a handful of games over four difficult seasons in Vancouver, why would he want to stay?

“There's a lot of reasons,” he said. “This could be in a scrambled order but, from outside the hockey standpoint. . . this has become a home for us. Our children were babies when they came here. There's tons of friends and family that love coming here. We've made it home. I mean, the city has been unbelievable to me, even outside of the sh-- part of this year. The amount of support we have and to be in a passionate fan base like this, why wouldn't you want (stay)? Why would I leave somewhere to find something that I want to get here? We've been starting to slowly build something. It's taken two steps toward and one back, two back and one forward -- there's been some ups and downs. Last summer I was told: 'We've got to be patient. It might not happen this year.’ And it did not. But if you look at the steps that our organization is taking to go to where we want to go. . . the changes up top (in management), the changes behind the bench and putting the team together, I mean, it's coming.

“Early in the year when we said we were going to make the playoffs and then everything started to hit the fan, that was very hard on us. But I feel like I'm here for the big picture in the long haul. This team, it's going this way (up). I really believe that we're going to be contending to win a Stanley Cup in the future. I can't predict if it's next year, the year after, four years, five years, but the reason I signed for seven is because I want to be here when it does happen. And I believe it's going to happen.”