J.T. Miller, Nikita Zadorov and the Problem With Judging

Nikita Zadorov’s defence of J.T. Miller is interesting. Not because Zadorov is the first former teammate to say something nice about Miller, but because of the standard he uses to judge him. Zadorov doesn't seem particularly interested in whether Miller is always easy to get along with. In fact, he freely admits that Miller can be blunt, grumpy, and occasionally difficult.

What test is Zadorov using to judge a teammate?

“He’s going to go on the ice, and he’s going to die for you,” Zadorov said. “That’s all that matters.” Well, there’s an old-fashioned hockey idea. Everybody has a theory about what makes a good teammate these days. Is he supportive? Is he cheerful? Does he say the right thing to reporters? Does everybody in the dressing room like him?

Those things might matter. But they may not tell the whole story. Competitive people aren't always easy people. Some players are demanding. Some are emotional. Some are blunt. Some have bad days. Some drive their teammates a little bonkers. That doesn't necessarily make them bad teammates.

Zadorov saw J.T. Miller as a player he wanted beside him.

Zadorov played with Miller during the 2023-24 season, when the Canucks were then one of the NHL's better teams and came within a game of the Western Conference Final. He saw Miller in a dressing room that won hockey games, and he saw what Miller brought when the puck dropped.

His conclusion was pretty simple: Miller competed, wanted to win and would go to battle for the players beside him. That's a different measure of a teammate than the one we sometimes get from the outside. And maybe that's where Zadorov's other comment gets interesting.

He complained that everybody now thinks they have a voice, uses it on social media and then expects everybody else to care about that voice. Fair enough. But the problem isn't really that people have opinions. Hockey has always been full of opinions.

Having an opinion isn't the same as having firsthand knowledge.

Zadorov wasn't in Vancouver for the final two seasons of the Miller-Pettersson story, so his perspective has limits. He can't tell us everything that happened after he left. But he can tell us what he saw. And maybe that's the lesson here.

A good teammate isn't necessarily the guy who makes everybody comfortable. Sometimes he's the guy who makes everybody better, even if he occasionally makes everybody crazy. Hockey has always understood that distinction. Maybe social media doesn't.