Canucks’ Tyler Myers talks Miller Pettersson drama, Hughes rumours, and more

Vancouver Canucks defenceman Tyler Myers joined the Cam & Strick Podcast to discuss several different topics.

Myers was asked about the infamous JT Miller/Elias Pettersson drama from last season, the recent rumours about Quinn Hughes wanting to play with his two brothers, and much more.

The Miller/Pettersson reported feud took over the hockey world in 2024-2025. The reports began to emerge early in the season, when the Canucks struggled to get off to a good start. This then led to rumours about one of the players moving, and subsequently, the potential for both players to move on.

We all know how it ultimately turned out. Miller was traded to the New York Rangers, and the Canucks kept Pettersson before his no-movement clause kicked in.

What we haven’t heard much about is a player’s perspective on how the locker room was:

“It got pretty crazy, just publicly last year. Way, way more than what it was,” Myers said. “I’m not going to sit here and say there wasn’t tension. But I’ve been on a team where two players are in a full-on fist fight after a game, who I know are close friends. There’s going to be tension anywhere you go.

“Millsy and I got close. It was a lot more than it needed to be, but it wasn’t anything crazy. We were figuring things out, just like every other team does with different situations. But our locker room is great. I like coming into the rink everyday, all the guys are close and we weren’t too worried about it.”

The next biggest topic of conversation surrounding is the future of Captain Quinn Hughes. At the end of the season, President of Hockey Operations Jim Rutherford shared that Hughes has a desire to play with his brothers, Jack and Luke, who both play for the New Jersey Devils.

Rutherford walked back some of those comments later, but now, the rumours started to swirl about how Hughes might leave after his two-year contract is up to join his brothers. Myers gives some perspective on Hughes’ end regarding the rumours:

“Huggy doesn’t like all that speculation and stuff. He loves his brothers, loves his family like everybody else, but he’s not going around the room saying he wants to play with his brothers. I know it’s a big story around the hockey world, but everyone makes that a lot more than it is.”

Myers has been in Vancouver since signing in the 2019 offseason. Outside of five games, Myers has been around for Hughes’ entire career. So he has had a front-row seat to watch him develop into the defenceman he is today.

“Five years ago, I was like, ‘Wow, this guy is amazing.’ It seems like every year since then, he’s only gotten better. Just when I think he’s at his ceiling and in his prime, he just keeps getting better. It’s crazy. The thing with Huggy that separates him, his edge work, and the way he separates himself from guys, gives him so much time and space, and then his skill just takes over. He’s maybe the best player I’ve seen in my career. Him and [Cale] Makar are on another level. It’s fun to watch.”

The Canucks re-signed goaltender Thatcher Demko to a three-year, $8.5 million average annual value contract on July 1 this offseason. This led to the subsequent trade of Calder Cup Champion and AHL playoff MVP Arturs Silovs to the Pittsburgh Penguins a few days ago.

Much of the hesitation about moving Silovs is due to the health of Demko. The American netminder has suffered numerous injuries over the past two seasons, restricting Demko to starting just 26 of the following 111 Canucks games over the past two seasons. But Myers shares that Demko is healthy and preparing for the year ahead:

“Demmer’s world-class. Whenever anyone asks about him, we always say it’s hard to explain how good he is. I know he’s feeling good coming into this year, and I’m excited for him to have that feeling because I know there were times last year when it got tough for him. The way he’s feeling now, I know he’s excited, and I’m excited for him because he’s that good and he’s great in the room.”

A Saturday night game against the Edmonton Oilers in mid-January got a little physical. So much so that both Tyler Myers and Connor McDavid were suspended for three games. McDavid for cross-checking Conor Garland in the head, while Myers for cross-checking Evan Bouchard in the face.

Myers details what happened on that night from his perspective:

“I didn’t even know what was going on behind me. I initiated it, no question. I did something on the wall, it was at the end of the game. I gave him a little shot, nothing bad, you know, normal in a hockey game. From there, he just kind of started coasting towards me. I didn’t really know what was going to happen. Obviously, Bouch is a really great player. That [physical] part of his game probably isn’t what he does all the time.

“Still, a player skating at me, I don’t know what’s going to happen, so I just decided to get my hands up a little bit,” Myers joked. “Honestly, I thought both suspensions that day were too much. I didn’t think either of them, looking at them after, was what everyone made them out to be. But I will defend myself. If you slow down the video, I’m going at his chest. His hands do kick up my stick. I don’t go looking to cross-check guys in the face.”

As a playful end to the interview, Cam & Strick asked Myers who was the most vocal on the team, but toward the opponents. This led to Myers then describing the significant impact Kiefer Sherwood made on the Canucks in his first year in Vancouver.

“Kiefer Sherwood,” Myers said without hesitation regarding the best trash-talker on the team. “[He’s a] Non-stop talker. He’ll throw some funny ones out there every once in a while.

“He just finishes everything. If he’s around another guy, he’s finishing him. It doesn’t matter where he is. He’s a warrior; he competes with the best of them. He broke the hit record this year. Anytime he was around somebody, he was leaning into them, whether he was big or small. He was really good for us. He brought an element [that] I think our team needed.”