Canucks Would Regret Trading Conor Garland Now

This Season Has Been a Downer for Garland, Still…

Sure, his numbers this season aren’t exploding off the page. Seven goals, 25 points in 46 games are far from fine. But he’s always been a double-digit goal scorer every season he’s been in the league.

But goals are not the whole story. Garland drives energy. He changes the feel of a shift. When the Canucks look flat, he’s one of the only guys who can drag the group into the fight by sheer stubbornness. Every team with real playoff hopes needs a couple players like that—the honest workers who don’t take a night off, who keep the engine humming.

Given the Canucks are loaded with young players, someone who plays with an edge every game seems crucial to the team’s successful reset. Garland’s a tone-setter. He shows up, plays hard, chirps everyone, annoys entire defensive pairings, and still has enough skill to turn a nothing play into a scoring chance. If you’re trying to build a culture—and Vancouver keeps telling us they are—Garland is the kind of guy you build it with, not ship away.

Can the Canucks Get a Good Return for Garland? For Sure.

Could the team get a good return for him? Absolutely. Some teams desperate for middle-six scoring and forechecking pressure would cough up something pretty decent. Maybe even a first-rounder, depending on the market.

But then what? If the Canucks were smart, they’d use any draft pick they got to find another guy just like Garland? Why not keep the real one you already know works?

At 29, he’s young enough to be part of whatever the next phase looks like. He’s competitive enough to drag others up with him. And he plays with the kind of bite the Canucks honestly don’t have enough of.

The Canucks could trade Conor Garland. But they shouldn’t. He’s exactly the kind of heartbeat player a team regrets letting go—and the Canucks can’t afford another one of those.