When the Vancouver Canucks got their first power play last night, the usual suspects hopped over the boards.
Quinn Hughes, Elias Pettersson, and a smattering of other forwards got ready for the offensive zone draw. When the puck dropped, everyone quickly realized that J.T. Miller was not in his usual spot. Instead, head coach Rick Tocchet kept him with the second unit throughout the game.
“It’s just something we’ve all talked about, Millsy and the other unit knew what was going on so there was nothing to that,” said Tocchet.
While Tocchet may have been quick to gloss over the decision, it’s odd not to see Miller on the top unit. It’s an interesting chess move by the bench boss and worth examining even if it’s short-term and Miller takes back his spot next game, a very real possibility.
The 31-year-old has been a key component of the Canucks power play ever since he arrived in Vancouver, especially in recent years. He has 76 power-play points since the start of the 2022-23 season, more than any Canucks player except for Quinn Hughes and he’s 17th among all NHL forwards in power-play points in that time.
The team failed to score on their two power plays last night without Miller on the first unit.
The personnel change comes on the back of Tocchet expressing his displeasure with how they performed in the previous game against the Boston Bruins.
“We went rogue a little bit… What happens with that unit when things don’t go our way? We start becoming individuals. It happened last year,” said Tocchet following the 5-1 shellacking.
“For the most part, the power play has actually been pretty good lately, the last two to three weeks, we just went back in that mode.”
“Something didn’t work early and then all of a sudden, we start trying to be individuals. You can’t be individuals, even when you’re down three nothing.”
That Bruins game was one of Miller’s first back in the lineup. The two-to-three-week period Tocchet referenced coincides with the time Miller was away from the team on personal leave. The club was using Pettersson, Hughes, Conor Garland, Brock Boeser, and Jake DeBrusk as their top power-play unit and the results were better than expected.
The Canucks converted on 25.8% of their power plays while Miller was away from the team, a few points better than the 23.3% mark they have for the whole season.
If they can keep up that percentage on a Miller-less top unit, the left-handed centre can then help provide a jump to the second unit. This would theoretically give the team two dangerous groups that can each score, while not going with a fully balanced approach which the team has experimented with over the past year.
It remains to be seen how long Tocchet keeps Miller off the top unit. He could be back next game in his usual spot. For now, it appears the head coach saw something he liked without the veteran on the top unit and is prepared to experiment as the season goes on.