Recently, rumours have been swirling about a rift between Vancouver Canucks’ forwards Elias Pettersson and J.T. Miller.
According to multiple sources around the team, the two franchise cornerstones have butted heads, causing a great deal of stress and tension in the locker room.
The reported rift stems from the two players’ different leadership styles. Miller is a brash, in-your-face player who continually shows his emotion on the ice.
Meanwhile, Petterson is quiet and reserved, letting his soft hands do the talking.
This season, Miller took a personal leave of absence from the team, giving little reason why he missed 10 games in late November and early December. He returned on Dec. 12.
Even when Miller returned, tension remained. The reported rift between Petterson and him grew worse, causing the two sides to strain their relationship further. As a result, the overall chemistry of the Canucks was affected.
Fast forward to Jan. 28.
Team President Jim Rutherford had his chance to address the rift during an interview with The Globe and Mail’s Gary Mason.
In his statement, he confirmed the conflict. Rutherford also told reporters that the situation “gets resolved for a short period of time but then it festers again.”
As a result, Rutherford said “There was no good solution to keep this group together,” suggesting that trades may be in the offing for one or both of those players.
“We’re talking about two of our top players,” Rutherford told Mason. “Certainly, our two best forwards. It can really be tough on a franchise — not only present but into the future — when you’re planning [to peak] this team into a contending team and then you find out that’s not going to happen. Or at least it’s not going to happen with the group we have now. Then you have to put together a new plan.”
“When you don’t have chemistry, it’s hard to be that consistent team because there’s too much going on in the room for everybody to concentrate on what they’re supposed to do,” Rutherford said.
Three days after the tell-all interview, Miller was traded. Vancouver dealt the star forward to the New York Rangers for forward Filip Chytil, defenseman Roberto Mancini and a 2025 first-round pick.
The trade somewhat put the drama to bed, ending a soap opera-like conflict straight out of General Hospital.
The reported feud illustrated a larger issue in the sporting world, highlighting the harmful effects that tensions can have on a team’s overall chemistry.
The chemistry between teammates is essential to a team’s overall success, no matter what sport you are playing. If players treat each other with respect and put the team first, healthy team chemistry is achieved.
This success could result in positive performances on the field or the ice.
Just ask Kiran Holmann-Pritchard, a second-year winger on the St. Thomas University men’s soccer team.
Holmann-Pritchard believes that these tensions between teammates can start because sport is a “very highly emotional atmosphere” on and off the field, stemming from how everyone is driven towards a common goal.
“In [the] passionate circumstances that sport brings out, it brings out the emotions in people. And I think that sport is somewhere where sometimes tempers can get a bit fraught and can run a little high, especially because everybody there wants to win,” he said. “There’s a common goal, but sometimes there’s maybe different effort levels, or there’s just a lot of instances in which pressure or tension can manifest itself just because of the passion that everybody has.”
One way that Holmann-Pritchard thinks these tension-filled situations can be avoided is through building a successful team culture where anyone can be a leader, no matter if you are a first-year or fourth-year player.
“I think that you can tell when there’s a little bit of tension between players … And I think that can be very detrimental to the performance, the enjoyment and the atmosphere of the team. You need everybody to get along, especially in sport,” said Holmann-Pritchard. “You spend so much time with your teammates and so being able to coexist with your teammates even if you disagree with them, you still need to have that baseline level of respect that’s you’re going to treat them how you would like to be treated.”
“I think when you do have that tension, it materializes on the field … and your team will suffer from that.”
MJ English, a second-year defender on the STU women’s hockey team, echoed much of the same sentiments as Holmann-Pritchard.
She said that tensions can come from having a lot of different personalities come together.
English added that this can be avoided through events like team building exercises, spending time together or “going on excursions.”
This way, players create a balance between competition and bonding with their teammates, according to English.
“I would say more cohesion. We tend to play better when we’re not bickering. And if we find that we are starting to create tension and have tension in the room, we just go out and spend time as a team,” said English when asked about the benefits of having a tensionless locker room. “We just perform better overall.”
“We just try to keep stuff to ourselves. If we know that tensions are rising, especially personal tension, frustrations and being in the ‘heat of the moment,’ you just need to continue to regulate yourself and find that place to keep yourself grounded.”
