Canucks president confirms rift between 2 star players in explosive interview

The deep tension between top players Elias Pettersson and J.T. Miller won’t be resolved, says management in explosive interview.

As the Canucks struggled on the ice this season, rumours of an off-ice feud between two of the team’s star players have dominated the headlines.

Captain Quinn Hughes has hinted at issues between Elias Pettersson and J.T. Miller, but the players themselves have downplayed or outright denied there’s a problem, and management hasn’t commented – until now.

In an interview with Gary Mason with the Globe and Mail, Canucks president Jim Rutherford confirmed there is an ongoing conflict between the two top centres.

“As you know, sometimes emotions get deep and as much as people try, sometimes you can’t get over it. It certainly appears that’s what’s going on here,” Rutherford told Mason.

The team president said all sides have tried and failed to resolve the deep rift between Pettersson and Miller.

“I felt like for a long time that there was a solution here because everybody has worked on it, including the parties involved,” Rutherford told Mason. “But it only gets resolved for a short period of time and then it festers again, and so it certainly appears like there’s not a good solution that would keep this group together.”

Rutherford also admitted the conflict has impacted the entire team, saying: “When you don’t have chemistry, it’s hard to be that consistent team because there’s too much going on in the room for everybody to concentrate on what they’re supposed to do.”

The team president would not say what the feud is about, but suggested to Mason that the issue cannot be resolved and current lineup likely needs to change.

The longtime Globe and Mail columnist doesn’t know why Rutherford chose to speak so candidly about an issue that up to this point had not been addressed by management or the players involved.

“I can’t answer for him there, but I think it became kind of silly to sort of deny that there was a problem. I mean, everybody in the world knew that the team was trying to trade either Miller or Pettersson, or both,” said Mason. “Clearly there was a problem.”

Mason thinks it’s possible Canucks management think putting the problem out in the open could help.

“I’m not saying that it’s going to, but, you know, it could put pressure on the two players to actually get there, you know, because it’s out there for the world to see,” Mason said, adding a lot of fans are dumbfounded by the feud.

“They’re multi-millionaires making, you know, a zillion dollars to play a kid’s game. How can they be this selfish about, you know, their feelings for each other? So maybe now that is out there, it will force the two players to start behaving like adults,” Mason said.

As for what impact coming clean will have on the Canucks ability to trade the two players?

“Everybody knows that there’s a problem. And that’s why a lot of teams figured that they have Jim Rutherford and (general manager) Patrik Alvin over a barrel,” said Mason. “They’re like scavengers, knowing that the Canucks are trying to get out of a problem. But don’t forget that Jim Rutherford also said they’re not going to make a deal just for the sake of making a deal.”

While it’s clear the Canucks are shopping one or both of the feuding players around, if the team puts together a string of wins, or going public helps Miller and Pettersson work it out, that could change.

“It would be wonderful if this, you know, kind of rattled the cages here and got people to start thinking more clearly about the impact that they’re having on the team and their teammates,” said Mason. “But who knows? This thing, it’s been going on for a long time. I don’t know if it’s going to have a happy ending or a sad ending.”