It's been just over a year since J.T. Miller was traded to the New York Rangers following drama with the Vancouver Canucks. How has the trade fared for both teams since then?
Just over one year ago, J.T. Miller was traded from the Vancouver Canucks to the New York Rangers. The Rangers also received Erik Brannstrom and Jackson Dorrington, while the Canucks got Filip Chytil, Victor Mancini and a 2025 first-round pick in return.
This was a big trade between the two franchises, and a move that was anticipated from Vancouver's perspective, given the rift between Miller and Elias Pettersson. Since the facilitation of the trade on Jan. 31, 2025, how have the teams fared, and what does this deal look like in retrospect?
Miller had a great ending to the season with the Rangers, scoring 13 goals and 35 points in the 32 games he played to finish off the year, ending up with 70 points on the year.
New York went on to miss the playoffs for the first time in three years, after advancing to the Eastern Conference final in the previous year.
This season, Miller was named captain of the Blueshirts. He has 14 goals and 36 points in 49 contests this season and is averaging 20:40 of ice time.
On a broader scale, Vancouver and New York have not seemed to benefit from this move. In fact, the Canucks and Rangers are the two worst teams in the NHL, sitting at the bottom of the standings.
They are expected to be sellers at the upcoming NHL trade deadline. Rangers GM Chris Drury even sent out a letter to the fans announcing a retool.
J.T. Miller (Bob Frid-Imagn Images)As for the pair of defensemen who came with Miller in the trade from the Canucks, neither Brannstrom nor Dorrington has played NHL games for New York.
Brannstrom, 26, has moved on to the Swiss National League and is a current member of Lausanne. He played 28 games for the Canucks in 2024-25 and a total of 294 career games in the NHL before taking his talents to Switzerland.
As for Dorrington, the 21-year-old has spent this campaign with the AHL's Hartford Wolf Pack. He's made 48 minor-league appearances and has put up seven points. Dorrington also featured in nine games for the Wolf Pack last year following the end of his third season with the NCAA's Northeastern University.
Vancouver's return of Chytil and Mancini hasn't been very effective in the early stages of their Canucks careers.
Chytil has had terrible luck with injuries throughout his career, and that hasn't changed since joining the Canucks. The 26-year-old center has only played 27 games for Vancouver, 12 of which have been this season.
After suffering an upper-body injury on Oct. 19, he missed three months of action. He returned on Jan. 23, but in February, he was hit by a puck in the face during practice and is dealing with a facial fracture. Chytil hasn't played since Feb. 2.
Mancini, on the other hand, has spent the majority of this campaign in the American League with the Abbotsford Canucks.
Between this year and last, Mancini has featured in 26 contests for the Canucks. The 23-year-old has made 10 appearances for Vancouver this season, but has played an additional 32 games with Abbotsford.
Concerning the 2025 first-round pick that the Canucks received in that deal, it's had a few different homes since. After that draft pick was moved to Vancouver, it was traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins for defenseman Marcus Pettersson and left winger Drew O'Connor.
Then, Penguins GM Kyle Dubas shipped that first-rounder to state rivals Philadelphia Flyers during the 2025 draft. At the draft, that pick landed 12th overall.
However, already owning the 11th pick in that draft, the Penguins handed the 12th overall pick to the Flyers in exchange for the 22nd and 31st picks of the draft. Meanwhile, Philadelphia went on to select center Jack Nesbitt.
Nesbitt is in his third season with the OHL's Windsor Spitfires. He has 18 goals and 45 points in 47 outings.
Ultimately, the Canucks did what they could to end the drama between Miller and Pettersson. That snowballed into coach Rick Tocchet moving on to be behind the bench in Philadelphia and superstar D-man Quinn Hughes being shipped to the Minnesota Wild.
Even if the decision to move on from Tocchet and Hughes was related to the Miller trade or not, it certainly changed the trajectory of the franchise.
On the other hand, the Rangers saw an opportunity to acquire a center who scored 103 points in the season before and go on another deep run in the Stanley Cup playoffs. However, that has not gone according to plan.
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