It’s Christmas, and we here at CanucksArmy thought it’d be fitting to give our ideas of what might be on the Vancouver Canucks’ Christmas Wishlist, whether that be to Santa Claus or, in this case, to the teams’ top two forwards to produce, together offensively.
Look, this isn’t even asking them to be best friends or friendly.
For Christmas this year, all I want is for JT Miller and Elias Pettersson to produce at the same time. That is all. If they don’t become buddy-buddy, that’s alright. If they don’t magically mend the bridge set on fire repeatedly, that’s fine. But for the Canucks to win and look to contend down the line in the playoffs this season, they need their two best forwards to play like their two best forwards.
The 2024-25 season just hasn’t been… right for the pair of them. While both players are still putting up points (Miller with 20 in 23 games, Pettersson with 26 in 33 GP), they’ve been nowhere near the game-breakers that the Canucks need them to be, especially at 5v5 play. Miller’s only had six goals all season, while Pettersson has nine. Most glaringly, EP40 only has five goals at even strength. The pair of them simply aren’t putting things together, and as two players that the Canucks hope to drive play consistently for them, it isn’t good enough.
Pettersson’s come under the magnifying glass for his lack of production recently due to Miller’s return after a decent stretch of games where he was racking up points with the American’s absence in the lineup. The splits are harsh between the before and after, where Pettersson has gone bone dry – and Miller hasn’t exactly impressed on the scoresheet or with his play on the ice, either. Splitting these two up on the power play units seemed to symbolize the chasm that has formed between them. Most teams don’t put two of their best offensive players on two different man-advantage units.