Canucks President Jim Rutherford Slams Rumors, Talk Of Trading JT Miller

Vancouver Canucks forward JT Miller took a leave of absence from the team last month, and as it so often does, the mysterious nature of the news got the rumor mill churning.

However, Canucks President Jim Rutherford has had about enough of it.

Miller's absence was announced around two weeks ago, with the team not providing an explanation as to why he was stepping away.

They didn't need to release an explanation either. Sure, hockey players are in the public eye, but like anyone they go through situation that are best handled privately.

Hopefully, all is well for Miller and his family, but the vaguery of the initial statement led to a lot of speculation, something that understandably isn't sitting well with Rutherford.

Especially, rumors that the team is trying to trade Miller right now.

"Don’t start making stuff up on someone in his situation. That’s disrespectful," he told Postmedia. "People that do this for fun, or for a living, just go back to making up trade rumors."

"No, we are not (trading him)," Rutherford said. "We stand by him."

Good on Jim Rutherford backing one of his players like that.

Miller has put up 16 points in the 17 games he has appeared in this season. However, the Canucks need a little more scoring from their top players one of whom is Miller.

Miller is in the second year of a 7-year deal with an $8 million AAV, and there may come a time when the team needs to move him — especially when the time comes to re-sign defenseman Quinn Hughes — but doing so while a guy has had to step away from the team for personal reasons wouldn't be cool.

If I were Rutherford — which I'm not, of course — I'd be offended that people would think a team I was running would even consider that, and it seems like he may well feel that way.