5. Agents always attend the world juniors, so the end of Ottawa’s event allowed Brian Bartlett (
J.T. Miller) and Pat Brisson (Elias Pettersson) to see their clients face-to-face and chat with the Canucks in Montreal. As Quinn Hughes has said, if the team was playing better, there would be less noise. And, as
Pettersson told Iain MacIntyre, “I know I can do better… I know what I can do, and that's what I'm focussing on doing.” That’s the right attitude because you can always re-write the narrative.
But I stick to what I’ve said the past few days: the Canucks are investigating the market for both players and, as I write this, there’s no certain outcome. There are definitely a lot of teams trying to figure out why it's at this point, and how that affects their pursuit of either player. Some relationships are difficult to repair.
6. The Athletic’s
Josh Yohe reported Vancouver turned down a Miller for
Mika Zibanejad deal, and I believe he’s correct — with some semantics. (A few weeks ago, New York denied it, but all it takes is for someone like Yohe to shake it out, and information follows.)
You’ll remember that when Miller took his mental health break, the Rangers, who covet the player, were in Vancouver. From what I understand, they approached the Canucks to discuss what something could look like, and Zibanejad was included in the conversation. I don’t know that Zibanejad, who has a no-move clause, was ever approached. I asked at the time and did not receive a clear answer. I also think it was actually a bigger deal, and one of the issues is that Vancouver adores Braden Schneider, who the Rangers do not want to trade. This would be the second time New York has rejected a Vancouver attempt for him.
7. The Rangers gave Zac Jones permission to talk to other teams. There’s interest, and he’s good enough to take advantage of a new opportunity. One caveat: since he’s not a big guy, teams with a smallish blue line are an unlikelier destination.
8. The most coveted Ranger is undoubtedly Vincent Trocheck. But they aren’t interested in doing that, and, listening to his comments lately, you could see them making him captain.
