When young Bodhi Miller would ask where his daddy was, Ryan Miller too often would have to say — via FaceTime — that he was playing hockey for the Canucks and promise that they’d be together soon. But between Vancouver’s schedule and the work commitments in Los Angeles of Miller’s wife, actress Noureen DeWulf, Miller might not see Bodhi for three weeks at a time. That was an eternity for a little boy and a father who loved his sport and his family and didn’t want to cheat either of them.
The timing couldn’t have been better for Miller to become a free agent last summer, when the Ducks needed a backup goaltender who could support and push 24-year-old John Gibson.