Rangers captain J.T. Miller makes first visit back to Vancouver since trade

VANCOUVER – Before their game against the Canucks Tuesday night, the Rangers had a scheduled day off Monday. And J.T. Miller took full advantage of it.

“I just tried to see as many people as I could,’’ said Miller, who spent five-and-a-half seasons with the Canucks before being traded to the Rangers last January for his second stint with the Blueshirts.

This was Miller’s first visit to Vancouver, where he became a legitimate first-line player, since the trade. And he talked about how much he and his family loved it here. In fact, he said, his wife and two daughters made the trip, to visit with friends.

“I never said a bad thing about Vancouver when I left,’’ Miller said. “I loved it here. It was like home. And the way they treated myself and my family is something I will always cherish. There's a reason the whole family came back. It's been a nice couple days.’’

Rangers coach Mike Sullivan, who went through a similar situation this season when he returned to his old team, Pittsburgh, with the Rangers in the third game of the season, expected Miller to be greeted warmly by the Canucks fans.

“He was such a huge part of this team for a long time,’’ Sullivan said. “So anytime you get in that environment, it can be emotional. I can imagine what it would be like as a player. I know what it was like when I went back to my former team, for me, and I'm just on the bench.’’

The fans in Vancouver loved Miller, but personality clashes between him and some teammates – most notably star center Elias Pettersson – eventually forced the Canucks to trade Miller, who came back to the Rangers with a couple of prospects in exchange for Filip Chytil, defenseman Victor Mancini, and a first-round pick. (Both Chytil – who was hit hard by Tom Wilson in a game Oct. 19 – and Mancini – who left Sunday’s game against Edmonton – are on injured reserve.)

“You can't go back and change anything,’’ Miller said when asked if he was bothered by the way things ended for him in Vancouver. “Obviously, it's ugly sometimes at the end, but I think for the majority of the time I was here, it's been all positive. It's been a lot of good things. And I'm not going to sit here and dwell over the way it ended. I didn't expect that to be pretty, and it wasn't. But [there were] definitely still a lot of friendships and a lot of good memories and a lot of good things that came from that experience. So, I'm happy.’’

Miller also wouldn’t allow himself to be concerned with perceptions of him being the bad guy in the conflict with Pettersson. He preferred to focus on his landing with the Rangers, which was where he wanted to go.

“At the end of the day, I’m where I thought… was going to be the right place for me,’’ he said. “And at the end of the day, it was the best for both sides. We're moved on. We’re so far past that, and… we're worried about the task at hand today.’’

That task, Miller said, was simple:

“We need to get a win,’’ he said. “We need to play a complete 60-minute game for the Rangers, and that's what we're worried about. And like I said, I understand there's gonna be some distractions. My focus right now is making sure we play the right way as a team.’’

Notes & quotes: Sullivan said Matt Rempe (upper-body injury) “is going to be (out) longer term.’’ But he said Vincent Trocheck (upper-body injury) skated Monday for the first time since leaving the second game of the season, in Buffalo, in the second period. Trocheck skated again Tuesday. “So he's making progress,’’ Sullivan said… Jonathan Quick started in goal and Sullivan made two lineup changes, inserting forward Jonny Brodzinski and D Urho Vaakanainen in place of Brennan Othmann and Matthew Robertson. “I thought ‘Otter’ did some good things. He had a couple of ‘looks’ offensively,’’ Sullivan said of Othmann, who was called up from Hartford after Rempe was injured. “There were also some moments where attention to detail could have helped us keep the puck out of the net.’’ Othmann vacated the front of the net to chase the puck and left Yegor Sharangovich alone in front to score Calgary’s third goal in the Rangers’ 5-1 loss.

By Colin Stephenson

colin.stephenson@newsday.comColinSNewsday

Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.