You knew that there would be a feeling of relief that the saga was finally over: it had been weeks since the idea of Miller being moved had first come up. It had been a big dark cloud hanging over everything and everyone.

Nine months ago, J.T. Miller became the seventh player in Vancouver Canucks history to register a 100-point season. “Right now, it doesn’t really even seem real,” a dejected Quinn Hughes told Sportsnet’s Dan Murphy after a 5-3 Canucks loss to the Dallas Stars on Friday.

It was obvious the Canucks — who traded Miller shortly before the puck dropped — were playing short-handed in their 5-3 loss to Dallas.

As the Vancouver Canucks struggled to string together wins over the past two months, the team's general manager was quietly working in the background on finding a new home for one of the club's top stars.

It was an emotional Friday for the Vancouver Canucks, but they still had a game to play. They lost, but between J.T. Miller’s trade and Quinn Hughes’ possible injury, the game felt like an afterthought.