Former Vancouver Canucks defenceman Nikita Zadorov didn’t need much time to shut down the noise around J.T. Miller.
Appearing on the Cam & Strick Podcast this week, Zadorov was asked about the drama in Vancouver involving Elias Pettersson and Miller, and he brushed it aside as something manufactured from outside the room.
“That’s the media,” said Zadorov. “People who still think J.T.’s a bad teammate, go watch Spittin’ Chiclets ‘ golf video, please, and then tell me.”
Miller had joked about the supposed feud on Spittin’ Chiclets, firing back at Paul Bissonnette’s chirp about bullying Pettersson with, “I went to rehab for that,”
Zadorov’s view of Miller was unmistakably clear. In his eyes, the reputation never matched the reality.
“He’s one of my best teammates I’ve had,” said Zadorov, before acknowledging that Miller can be a tough personality for some people to handle. “Yeah, sometimes he’s too straightforward, and sometimes he has bad days, and he’s a little bit grumpy, but that’s J.T., we love him.”
What Zadorov values most is what Miller brings when the puck drops.
“He’s going to go on the ice, and he’s going to die for you,” said Zadorov. “That’s all that matters.
He’s a great teammate, he’s competitive, he wants to win. It just pisses me off when people make it like it’s his fault over there.
It wasn’t his fault.”
Zadorov’s take is shaped mainly by the 2023-24 season, when the Canucks rolled to first place in the Pacific Division behind Miller’s 103-point year and finished one win short of the Western Conference Finals.
Zadorov also became a playoff favorite in 2024, scoring timely goals and delivering heavy hits during Vancouver’s run.
But after that postseason, the Canucks and Zadorov couldn’t agree on a new deal, a process he later called “disrespectful.”
He hasn’t been around for the last two seasons as the Vancouver situation has grown louder, but he still believes the hockey world understands it the same way he does.
“People who are in the hockey world know that too,” he said, “but then you have 16-year-old idiots sitting on Twitter and tweeting out that sh*t, so it’s all getting blown up right now. The problem right now is everybody thinks they have a voice, and then they use it, and then everybody should care about that voice.”
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