Ever since he announced his return to the Big Apple with two goals, J.T. Miller has shown no signs of slowing down. The star forward had spent staggering six seasons for the Vancouver Canucks, but his time ended on a sour note thanks to his rift with Elias Pettersson.

But the way his stats after the trade have turned out, it prompted Spittin’ Chiclets, to take a dig at the Canucks’ decision to trade J.T. Miller instead of Elias Pettersson. “Canucks may have traded the wrong guy,” the caption read. And what do his stats look like? The numbers? They also made sure to include that: “JT MILLER HAS MORE POINTS (14) THAN PETTERSON HAS SHOTS (8) SINCE THE TRADE.” Ouch.

An X-user and NHL fan rightly commented on Spittin’ Chiclets’ post, “Miller had 9 goals in 40 games for the Canucks, now 7 in 11 for the Rangers.” Bang on. Meanwhile, since the trade, Pettersson has been goalless and has only recorded three assists. That’s 10 games without a goal. In fact, the last time he hit the back of the net was 14 games ago in the 3-2 loss against the Buffalo Sabres. Looks scary, right? 

But what was the feud between Miller and Pettersson all about? Well, reports suggest it was a personality thing. Apparently, Miller’s aggressive attitude was not compatible with the Swede’s quieter demeanor — talk about strange bedfellows. In fact, the two had a full-blown stick fight during one practice session in October last year. So for the Canucks it was either a divided locker room or a trade for either of the two forwards. With J.T. Miller waiving his ‘no-movement’ for a return to the Rangers, the Canucks traded him for center Filip Chytil, defenseman Victor Mancini and a protected first-round draft pick. 

There was, however, a point in time when Elias Pettersson was rumored to be the more likely candidate to be traded.

The J.T. Miller blunder almost didn’t happen

Earlier this year, the Carolina Hurricanes were interested in separate trades for J.T. Miller and Elias Pettersson. The deals, however, did not materialize with the Hurricanes going for the Chicago Blackhawks’ Taylor Hall and Colorado Avalanche’s Mikko Rantanen instead. And while the Rangers were very much in pursuit of Miller at the time, the Canucks were simply not happy with what they were seeing on the table for the USA international. Naturally, the odds had Pettersson as the trade priority. And honestly, it made as much sense at the time as much as it makes now.

Pettersson was (and still is) the most expensive player on the Canucks roster at a whopping $11.6 million AAV, so his trade could have freed up some serious cap space. As for numbers on the ice, Miller had been more impressive with the Canucks over the previous three seasons than Pettersson. What’s more? With Pettersson having no trade protections until next season, the Canuck’s could have potentially traded him to any one of the other 31 NHL teams — one of which seemed to be more interested than the others.

After his potential trade to the Carolina Hurricanes fell through, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported that the Swede was being eyed by the Buffalo Sabres among others. “There are others but the Sabres are definitely in there,” Friedman had said. And with the Canucks reportedly interested in the Sabres’ forward Dylan Cozen and blue-liner Bowen Bryam, it almost seemed like the Pettersson trade was a matter of when than if. But alas!