The Canucks and Rangers are about to cross paths for the fifth time since the J.T. Miller deal, and this one comes with a few extra layers.
For one, it’s Miller’s second trip back to Rogers Arena since the trade. For another, Filip Chytil is set to get his first crack at facing the Rangers, the team that drafted him in the first round of the 2017 NHL Draft. He missed Vancouver’s previous games against New York because of injury, but on Tuesday he sounded eager for the moment.
“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.”
The trade itself sent Miller, Erik Brännström and Jackson Dorrington to New York, while Vancouver landed Chytil, Victor Mancini and a 2025 first-round pick.
Miller’s second stint with the Rangers has been productive, even if it hasn’t quite matched the level he showed in Vancouver. After the deal, he was named New York’s captain the following season.
In his first full year back with the Rangers, he put up 17 goals and 36 assists in 68 games and finished fourth on the team in scoring. This season, he has four goals and 10 assists in 20 games.
Brännström never got into a game for the Rangers, instead spending his time with Hartford in the AHL. He played six games there before being moved to the Buffalo Sabres for Nicolas Aube-Kubel at the 2025 Trade Deadline. After the 2024-25 season, he returned to Europe and is now in his second season with Lausanne HC.
Dorrington has stayed in the Rangers’ system since the trade. He made his AHL debut with Hartford during the 2024-25 season and posted a goal and an assist in nine games.
In his first full AHL season, 2025-26, he had two goals and nine assists in 70 games. So far in 2026-27, he has one assist in 13 games.
On Vancouver’s side, Chytil has appeared in 34 games since arriving and has five goals and six assists. Two of those assists have come in seven games this season. Health has been the main obstacle, but when he’s been available, his speed has given the Canucks a look at what he can bring.
Mancini has spent his time bouncing between Vancouver and Abbotsford as a depth defender. He played 24 games for the Canucks through 2025-26 and recorded three assists.
He also skated in 33 games for Abbotsford, where he posted four goals and eight assists. Vancouver sent him down to the AHL on Tuesday, and he made his season debut for Abbotsford on Wednesday.
The first-round pick that Vancouver received took a winding route before ending up as forward Jack Nesbitt, selected 12th overall. The Canucks flipped the pick to Pittsburgh only hours after getting it in the Miller trade, and the Penguins later sent it to Philadelphia on the first day of the 2025 NHL Draft in a deal for picks No. 22 and No. 31.
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