CANUCKS: For old-school J.T. Miller, new-age reality of COVID-19 hits home
Frustrated Miller concerned about the health and safety of players and their families
J.T. Miller put health and safety ahead of hockey Wednesday. Noodle on that for a while and let it roll around in your head.
The game has always been the engine that drives the oldschool, blood-and-guts, outspoken Vancouver Canucks forward. He isn't afraid of anything or anybody. But with what awaits the National Hockey League club on extreme emotional and physical levels in a return to play Friday at Rogers Arena, following a massive coronavirus outbreak that affected 25 people in the organization, he is beyond worried.
Miller could point fingers at the league for a competitive imbalance. Being shut down March 31 and not playing in 22 days eats at the body and mind. And with teammates Nate Schmidt, Jake Virtanen, Nils Hoglander, Loui Eriksson, Jalen Chatfield, Alex Edler, Jayce Hawryluk and Zack MacEwen remaining on the protocol list, health concerns of those who could experience long-haulers' affects of COVID-19 trumps everything.
“I hope people don't take this the wrong way because I'm a very competitive guy and I really want to win — there's nothing better,” Miller said during a passionate Zoom availability. “But at the same time, this has nothing to do with hockey for our team. It's about health and safety of our players and their families.
“It's not about us making the playoffs at this point. This has been an extreme circumstance and to think of playoffs when guys are still recovering from this and expected to be ready to play is frustrating. I want to make sure everybody's priorities are in the right place.
“This has nothing to do with me not wanting to play there (playoffs) or not believing in our team. It's a very extreme scenario and dangerous to a lot of our players.”
Miller had a coronavirus scare during training camp as a high-risk, close contact of infected former teammate Jordie Benn. Now, he can question the optics of putting revenue-sharing greed ahead of health. One team practice, a game-day skate and the Edmonton Oilers on Friday and Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday?
A schedule of 19 games in 31 days — including six backto-backs and five games in the first seven days to restart the 56-game slog — is enough to put anybody over the edge. Should the Canucks even be playing? That was put to Miller by this reporter.
“That's a hard question,” he said. “I don't want to be caught agreeing with you and `should' is a weird word because there are so many moving parts. I don't know. And it's unfortunate even to be in this scenario, but it is our job. But at the same time, one practice is not nearly enough to perform and, to be brutally honest, we're going to need more time than this to play hockey — even the guys who didn't get it (the virus) aren't ready to play.
“It's a decision made and that's all I can really say. Seems like a very high hurdle to jump over.”
As for finishing the regular-season schedule, the simple question is: Why?
Why are the Canucks, who are out of North Division playoff contention, risking further injury by playing the lastplace Ottawa Senators on four occasions from April 22-28? They also have four games left against the Calgary Flames, including a back-to-back to end the regular season. Why suit up for the final pair? The Flames are also a long shot to catch the Montreal Canadiens for fourth place.
Why not drop those meaningless matchups and use winning percentage to slot teams for the draft lottery?
It's hard for Miller to wrap his head around it all.
“I don't know — I haven't really thought of hockey much,” he said. “It's kind of crazy. I know everybody has a job to do, but expecting pretty much our entire team to be ready is a little bit hard to comprehend.
“I've skated a couple of times and my lungs are screaming and I'm definitely not in game shape at all from siting around and not doing much. I don't really feel ready at all, to be quite honest. I'm trying to get my hockey senses back. This is kind of the card we've been dealt and we've got to deal with it.”
Playing is one thing. Trying to get the best of the Oilers' Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, followed by the Leafs' Auston Matthews, seems ridiculous. McDavid and Draisaitl are first and second in NHL scoring with 69 and 61 points, respectively. And Matthews has a league-leading 32 goals.
“We're playing two of the best players in the world and one of the best teams in the league,” said Miller. “I never thought I'd be in this scenario in my career. It's obviously not ideal. That's all I worry about and it's kind of frustrating.
“We try to talk about the No. 1 priority of health and safety and it's almost impossible to achieve that with what they've asked us to do. This hasn't been easy for anybody and it's going to be challenging and it's not very safe, if you're asking me. And I'm sure there are other people who would agree with that.”
It's a decision made and that's all I can really say. Seems like a very high hurdle to jump over.”
J.T. Miller