J.T. Miller sabotaged blockbuster trade deal.

One of the most exciting aspects of being a sports fan, and hockey is no exception to this, is that you get to see teams often times take big risks through the mechanism of trades, risks that can often drastically change the fortunes of one more franchises for better or for worse.

Perhaps even more interesting than discussing the trades that have actually happened however are the discussions around the trades that almost came to pass, and one such trade is now being widely discussed among hockey fans that closely follow the National Hockey League.

Last week, NHL insider Renaud Lavoie made a stunning revelation during an appearance on BPM Sports Radio in Montreal, one regarding New York Rangers forward J.T. Miller. According to Lavoie, it sounds like the Canucks had plans in place to trade Miller to the Colorado Avalanche prior to him eventually being dealt to the Rangers, a deal that Miller himself would sabotage through the use of the trade protection afforded to him in his contract.

Lavoie began by revealing that the Avalanche only pulled the trigger on the blockbuster deal involving Mikko Rantanen because they believed that Miller would be coming to join their roster.

"In their minds they traded [Rantanen] because J.T. Miller was coming to Colorado," revealed Lavoie during a French language interview. "In their minds they were convinced that Miller would be traded by the Canucks to the Avalanche."

So why did the trade never come to pass? Well according to Lavoie it was entirely Miller's decision to block that deal to the Avalanche.

"What I've been told is J.T. wagged his finger and said 'I don't want to play in Denver,'" revealed Lavoie. "I don't know all the details behind J.T.'s motivations for not wanting to play in Denver."

Lavoie believes that at the end of the day it came down to Miller wanting to go back to a market he was familiar with, which of course eventually resulted in the Canucks making the move to trade Miller to the New York Rangers. That of course leaves the question, would the Canucks have gotten a better deal in a trade with the Avalanche? It seems fair to suggest that the Canucks themselves believed that to be the case, given that they attempted to go this route before being forced to move him to the Rangers.

Lavoie didn't express so much as even a hint of doubt when reporting the details of this trade that never was, indicating that he was extremely confident in the information from his sources. You can hear him in his own words in the short clip below: