VANCOUVER — Patrik Allvin is no pyromaniac. As the J.T. Miller trade-rumour inferno rages in various NHL markets, Allvin is nearer than almost anyone to the blaze. And the Vancouver Canucks general manager is holding a fire hose turned on full.
Allvin said Wednesday that not only is there no urgency to auction off the team’s leading scorer before the March 21 trade deadline, the new GM sees Miller as a player the Canucks, ideally, should try to keep.
The 28-year-old is under contract another season after this one at a bargain $5.25-million salary and isn’t eligible for unrestricted free agency until 2023. No wonder Allvin and Canucks president Jim Rutherford are in no hurry to trade their best forward.
One of the Canucks’ former managers, Brian Burke, pointed out a generation ago that things can change with one phone call. Burkie also referenced a payphone and moving the franchise, but you get the idea.
Maybe the Toronto Maple Leafs or another team send a Brinks truck to the Canucks loaded with draft picks and A-level prospects to get Allvin to move Miller now, but the club isn’t exactly boxing up the forward’s sticks and skates and discounting No. 9 jerseys in the team store.
Physical, fast, skilled and versatile, Miller is the kind of elite player teams build around.
“Absolutely,” Allvin said. “We can control most of our players (contracts), except for Tyler Motte. In that regard, there is no rush at all. Regarding J.T. — I’ve said it before — I’ve been impressed with the way he plays, the way he cares. And I think he’s been probably, since I’ve been here, the most consistent player.
“I think that’s probably something we’re planning as a staff, to sit down together this summer and see which guys are going into the last year of their deals. We want to see where they are, their mindset and what they want to do and if there is a fit here.”
One of the factors driving conjecture about Miller, besides a formidable and versatile skillset that has him on pace for a career-best season after 53 points in Vancouver’s first 50 games, is his age. The American turns 29 in March, will be 30 when his contract expires, and may be too old during his next deal to align with the evolution of a Canucks team built on a foundation of players now in their early- to mid-20s.
But Allvin believes Miller could still fit the team’s future.
“I hope so,” he said. “With his mindset and his drive, I hope he has another level to reach, too. I think he’s probably matured a lot over the last couple of years, and I hope he knows how to take care of his body and you hope he can still find another level.”
What is indisputable amid the debate around Miller and others is that the Canucks, operating in LTIR and likely to miss the playoffs for the sixth time in seven seasons, are facing a salary-cap crisis. Both Rutherford and Allvin have said it is critically important for the Canucks to create some cap flexibility.
Motte, the speedy, tenacious checker and penalty-killer who is playing the best hockey of his career, is one of only two Canuck regulars due to become a UFA after this season. Backup goalie Jaroslav Halak is the other, and he has a full no-movement clause. Depth players Brad Hunt and Alex Chiasson will also be UFAs.
Allvin echoed Rutherford’s statement last month that the Canucks can’t afford to lose UFAs for nothing if there’s value in trading them, which was a key organizational failing during Jim Benning’s seven years as GM.
“I definitely agree with that, and especially in the position where we are right now,” Allvin said. “We’re not in the playoffs even. Coming from Pittsburgh, it’s different where you have Kris Letang, Evgeni Malkin and Bryan Rust going through the last year of their contracts. But they’re still a top team in the league and maybe you push through there because you have a chance to win.
“We’re in a different situation here. We’re not there right now, so I would not feel comfortable seeing players just walk away and you don’t get anything in return. But it’s easier said than done.”
In his interview with Sportsnet, Allvin said he likes what he has seen from Bruce Boudreau, but it’s too early to talk about what should be done with the head coach who arrived in Vancouver eight weeks before the GM.
Besides making a decision on Motte, Allvin must stickhandle impending restricted free agent Brock Boeser and the $7.5-million qualifying offer the winger is due. The QO is not only a non-starter for the Canucks as a launch point for a future contract, but a major drag on Boeser’s trade value.
As with Miller, however, the Canucks can take time on the Boeser file by seeing how things play out this summer and try to re-sign him long-term at an average salary significantly lower than his qualifying offer.
But eventually, Allvin will have to make difficult and unpopular choices about who stays and who goes.
“Absolutely,” he said. “That’s the tough part in this business. I mean, you want to believe in your players, and you want to believe that they’re going to get better and all that. But at some point, you’ve just got to face the reality.”
EDMONTON – The Edmonton Oilers signed defenceman Travis Dermott to a professional tryout on Friday.
Dermott, a 27-year-old from Newmarket, Ont., produced two goals, five assists and 26 penalty minutes in 50 games with the Arizona Coyotes last season.
The six-foot, 202-pound blueliner has also played for the Vancouver Canucks and Toronto Maple Leafs.
Toronto drafted him in the second round, 34th overall, of the 2015 NHL draft.
Over seven NHL seasons, Dermott has 16 goals and 46 assists in 329 games while averaging 16:03 in ice time.
Before the NHL, Dermott played two seasons with Oilers captain Connor McDavid for the Ontario Hockey League’s Erie Otters. The team was coached by current Edmonton head coach Kris Knoblauch.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
NEWPORT, R.I. (AP) — Maria Sharapova, a five-time Grand Slam singles champion, led the International Tennis Hall of Fame’s fan vote her first year on the ballot — an important part to possible selection to the hall’s next class.
The organization released the voting results on Friday. American doubles team Bob and Mike Bryan finished second with Canada’s Daniel Nestor third.
The Hall of Fame said tens of thousands of fans from 120 countries cast ballots. Fan voting is one of two steps in the hall’s selection process. The second is an official group of journalists, historians, and Hall of Famers from the sport who vote on the ballot for the hall’s class of 2025.
“I am incredibly grateful to the fans all around the world who supported me during the International Tennis Hall of Fame’s fan votes,” Sharapova said in a statement. “It is a tremendous honor to be considered for the Hall of Fame, and having the fans’ support makes it all the more special.”
Sharapova became the first Russian woman to reach No. 1 in the world. She won Wimbledon in 2004, the U.S. Open in 2006 and the Australian Open in 2008. She also won the French Open twice, in 2012 and 2014.
Sharapova was also part of Russia’s championship Fed Cup team in 2008 and won a silver medal at the London Olympics in 2012.
To make the hall, candidates must receive 75% or higher on combined results of the official voting group and additional percentage from the fan vote. Sharapova will have an additional three percentage points from winning the fan vote.
The Bryans, who won 16 Grand Slam doubles titles, will have two additional percentage points and Nestor, who won eight Grand Slam doubles titles, will get one extra percentage point.
The hall’s next class will be announced late next month.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The driver charged with killing NHL hockey player Johnny Gaudreau and his brother Matthew as they bicycled on a rural road had a blood-alcohol level of .087, above the .08 legal limit in New Jersey, a prosecutor said Friday.
Gaudreau, 31, and brother Matthew, 29, were killed in Carneys Point, New Jersey, on Aug. 29, the evening before they were set to serve as groomsmen at their sister Katie’s wedding.
The driver, 43-year-old Sean M. Higgins of nearby Woodstown, New Jersey, is charged with two counts of death by auto, along with reckless driving, possession of an open container and consuming alcohol in a motor vehicle. At a virtual court hearing Friday, a judge ordered that he be held for trial after prosecutors described a history of alleged road rage and aggressive driving.
“’You were probably driving like a nut like I always tell you you do. And you don’t listen to me, instead you just yell at me,’” his wife told Higgins when he called her from jail after his arrest, according to First Assistant Prosecutor Jonathan Flynn of Salem County.
The defense described Higgins as a married father and law-abiding citizen before the crash.
“He’s an empathetic individual and he’s a loving father of two daughters,” said defense lawyer Matthew Portella. “He’s a good person and he made a horrible decision that night.”
Higgins told police he had five or six beers that day and admitted to consuming alcohol while driving, according to the criminal complaint. He also failed a field sobriety test, the complaint said. A prosecutor on Friday said he had been drinking at home after finishing a work call at about 3 p.m., and having an upsetting conversation with his mother about a family matter.
He then had a two-hour phone call with a friend while he drove around in his Jeep with an open container, Flynn said. He had been driving aggressively behind a sedan going just above the 50 mph speed limit, sometimes tailgating, the female driver told police.
When she and the vehicle ahead of her slowed down and veered left to go around the cyclists, Higgins sped up and veered right, striking the Gaudreas, the two other drivers told police.
“He indicated he didn’t even see them,” said Superior Court Judge Michael J. Silvanio, who said Higgins’ admitted “impatience” caused two deaths.
Higgins faces up to 20 years, a sentence that the judge said made him a flight risk.
Higgins has a master’s degree, works in finance for an addiction treatment company, and served in combat in Iraq, his lawyers said. However, his wife said he had been drinking regularly since working from home, Flynn said.
Johnny Gaudreau, known as “Johnny Hockey,” played 10 full seasons in the league and was set to enter his third with the Columbus Blue Jackets after signing a seven-year, $68 million deal in 2022. He played his first eight seasons with the Calgary Flames, a tenure that included becoming one of the sport’s top players and a fan favorite across North America.
Widows Meredith and Madeline Gaudreau described their husbands as attached at the hip throughout their lives. Both women are expecting, and both gave moving eulogies at the double funeral on Monday.
