Rick Tocchet gets blamed for JT Miller’s leave of absence!

Earlier this week, the Vancouver Canucks announced that veteran forward J.T. Miller will be away from the team on an indefinite leave of absence due to personal reasons. The team did not elaborate on the circumstances surrounding Miller’s absence, though the Canucks made clear that he has their full support. Head coach Rick Tocchet confirmed the news and then focused on his team’s upcoming games.

As soon as Miller left the Canucks, nasty rumours emerged that Miller’s wife had been having an extramarital affair and was the reason why the forward needed time off the ice only because Natalie Miller deleted his personal Instagram account, probably to get some privacy.

Finally on Thursday, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman wanted to share what he knew and felt about Miller’s absence, saying that star forward was burnt out and could return after Vancouver’s road trip.

After that update from Friedman, fans immediately started targeting Tocchet, saying that Miller allegedly lost his passion for hockey because of the head coach. The rumours have shifted from Miller’s poor wife to the Canucks’ bench boss.

Tocchet has been known to be a tough and demanding coach, however, nothing has pointed to a strained relationship between the head coach and Miller.

However, when the Canucks dropped Sunday night’s contest to the Nashville Predators 5-3, fans were immediately reminded of Tocchet benching Miller in the third period.

“I just went with the guys that I thought could get us back in the game.”

Tocchet gave a blunt “No” when asked if his benching had to do with any sort of injury.

The rest of the team seems to be doing fine under Tocchet with the Cancuks sitting fifth place in the Pacific division with a 9-6-3 record. Vancouver is back in action, without Miller, tomorrow evening against the Senators in Ottawa.