Former Vancouver Canucks head coach Bruce Boudreau has an intimate view of the J.T. Miller-Elias Pettersson situation, which has been the story of the season.
A reported feud between the two players has become a national story, something that the former bench boss says is not surprising to him. The now 70-year-old coached the Canucks for parts of two seasons, and it was his job to manage the personalities in the room.
“No, not at all, I mean it’s been going on for awhile,” Boudreau said when asked if he’s surprised by the story on the 100% Hockey podcast.
Something that Boudreau learned during his time in Vancouver is that the two superstars are wired very differently. They each respond positively to different motivational techniques, with Pettersson needing more encouragement and Miller needing more fuel to add to his fire.
“J.T. is a really strong personality, he’s the dominant one in the room where Pettersson is the very quiet one in the room. There’s just two different dynamics.”
Boudreau described how he spent time building up Pettersson before games, encouraging him and complimenting his strengths. When it came to Miller, he’d often do the opposite, giving him a challenge ahead of the contest to get him fired up.
“Petey was a guy I talked to an awful lot, he needed constant, I don’t know what the word is. Sometimes he feels like he’s not being used, or he wasn’t confident in his game, and I had to build him up all the time.”
“He’s got a totally different personality than J.T., and you had to work with both of them. I think that’s the coach’s job.”
Both Miller and Pettersson have not lived up to their highest standard throughout the first half of the season. However, there are signs things are changing. Miller recently put together a dominant four-point performance, and Pettersson has been trending upwards as well.