Trade Rumor Sees Vancouver Canucks' J.T. Miller Dealt to the Montreal Canadiens

At this time of year, with the trade deadline just over six weeks away, rumors run rampant around the National Hockey League and that's been the case for nearly the entire month of January for the Vancouver Canucks and forward J.T. Miller.

Earlier this month, it was reported that the Vancouver Canucks were going to test the market for J.T. Miller and ever since, a number of teams have been linked to the American forward including the Carolina Hurricanes and New York Rangers, both of whom have reportedly been given permission to speak with him about a deal.

Mock trades are always popular too, especially that involve players who are in the thick of rumors, such as someone like J.T. Miller and a new one has come out that features the Canucks forward and another Canadian club.

Bill Scott of NHLTradeRumor.com recently made a mock trade that would see the Vancouver Canucks deal J.T. Miller to the Montreal Canadiens, who have been one of the hottest teams in hockey since the beginning of December.

In return for J.T. Miller, Scott's mock trade would see the Vancouver Canucks acquire pending unrestricted free agent forward Jake Evans, former third-overall pick Kirby Dach, defenseman Jayden Struble and a 2025 first-round pick.

Now, this is quite a hefty price for J.T. Miller and it's very, very unlikely that the Montreal Canadiens would ever even offer or accept this offer in a trade.

The Canadiens are reportedly trying to lock up Jake Evans to a contract extension before he hits free agency on July 1st and Kirby Dach is finally beginning to hit his stride after a knee injury caused him to miss the entire 2023-24 season (aside from two games) and played a role in his slow start to this year.

With the play of Alexandre Carrier, who the Canadiens acquired from Nashville in mid-December, it's left Jayden Struble as a healthy scratch on most nights in recent weeks, but there likely isn't much of an appetite from Montreal to move him anytime soon.

Finally, with the Canadiens still in their rebuild, despite taking big strides in the last month and a half, moving a first-round draft pick wouldn't be smart for General Manager Kent Hughes, unless it's for a player that in his early-to-mid 20s and will be able to help the team when they're ready to contend for the Stanley Cup.

While this mock trade would be a big win for the Vancouver Canucks, don't expect Patrik Allvin to get anywhere near this haul in an actual deal for J.T. Miller before March 7th.