Revisiting The Canucks And Rangers’ Move For J.T. Miller Ahead Of Fifth Matchup Since The Trade

It’s been nearly two years since the Vancouver Canucks and New York Rangers completed a trade for J.T. Miller, though tonight will mark Miller’s second game back at Rogers Arena since the deal. 

Tonight is also expected to feature Filip Chytil’s first experience playing against the organization that drafted him in the first-round of the 2017 NHL Draft, as he missed Vancouver’s other matchups against the Rangers due to injury. 

On Tuesday, Chytil expressed his excitement about possibly playing against the Rangers for the first time since being traded. 

“It means a lot to me, actually,” he said after Vancouver’s practice on Tuesday. “It’s been almost two years now since the trade, and I didn’t play a game against them. I don’t know most of the team now because it’s changed as well. I know just a couple of players from there, but it was still eight years in the organization — and it was an organization that gave me an opportunity to play in the league, and I have great memories from those seasons.”

Let’s take a look at the pieces acquired by the Canucks and Rangers ahead of their fifth matchup since the trade.

The season after he was traded to the Rangers, Miller was named New York’s captain. In his first full season with the Rangers post-Vancouver trade, the forward put up 17 goals and 36 assists in 68 games, good for fourth on his team in points. Miller hasn’t quite found the same performance level he reached with Vancouver in his second stint with the Rangers, though he is currently up to four goals and 10 assists in 20 games with New York.  

Brännström didn’t end up playing in any games with the Rangers, instead skating for their AHL-affiliate Hartford Wolf Pack. He only ended up playing in six games for the Wolf Pack before being dealt to the Buffalo Sabres for Nicolas Aube-Kubel at the 2025 Trade Deadline. After the end of the 2024–25 season, Brännström headed back to Europe, where he’s now in his second season with Lausanne HC. 

The final piece acquired by the Rangers in this trade was Dorrington, who has remained with New York’s organization since. He made his AHL-debut for the Wolf Pack during the 2024–25 season, putting up a goal and an assist in nine games that year. In his first full season in the AHL, 2025–26, he scored a total of two goals and nine assists in 70 games. Throughout the 2026–27 season thus far, Dorrington has put up one assist in 13 games. 

Chytil has played in a total of 34 games since being acquired by the Canucks, with the forward projected to face his former team for the first time tonight. He has scored five goals and six assists throughout his tenure with Vancouver, with two of these assists coming in the seven games he has played so far this year. While health has been a big issue for Chytil through his time with the Canucks, when he has been in the lineup, the forward has shown promise with his speed. 

In his time with the Canucks thus far, Mancini has acted as more of a depth defenceman, floating between Vancouver and Abbotsford. He played in 24 games with Vancouver through 2025–26, putting up three assists in that span. The remainder of his playing time was spent with Abbotsford, during which he skated in 33 games and posted four goals and eight assists. The defenceman was sent down to the AHL on Tuesday and made his season-debut for Abbotsford on Wednesday. 

The first-round pick acquired by Vancouver went on a little bit of an adventure before ultimately being used to select forward Jack Nesbitt 12th-overall. Only hours after the Canucks acquired the selection, they flipped it to the Pittsburgh Penguins in the trade that sent Drew O’Connor and Marcus Pettersson (also a member of the Rangers now) to Vancouver. Pittsburgh held onto the pick until the first day of the 2025 NHL Draft, trading it to the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for picks #22 and #31. 

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