Canucks targeting defenceman in Garland trade: report

The Vancouver Canucks may be off to a great start this season, but the team is reportedly not entirely done tinkering with its roster.

Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported during the Saturday Night Headlines segment on last night’s Hockey Night in Canada broadcast that Vancouver is still working hard to shop Conor Garland around the league in order to clear up some cap space.

“Vancouver tried to get it done before the season so they wouldn’t have to play with 17 [players] on opening night,” said Friedman. “Now it’s harder to predict the timeline because teams tend to wait and see what they got before making moves.”

Last week, Friedman reported that “Vancouver has granted Conor Garland permission to talk to other teams about a potential trade.”

Playing shorthanded didn’t seem to affect the Canucks all that much on opening night, as they handily defeated Edmonton by a score of 8-1. The team has since recalled forward Jack Studnicka and had a full roster in Saturday night’s 4-3 victory in Edmonton.

Despite being back to full strength, the team is still looking to shed cap dollars while also beefing up their blue-line.

“Vancouver has indicated that its goal here is to free up about a million to two million more in cap room after any trade,” said Friedman. “They prefer a defenceman in return.”

Friedman added that teams have shown interest in Garland, naming the Columbus Blue Jackets, Nashville Predators, and Winnipeg Jets as teams who have checked in. It was also reported that the Canucks want to bolster their blue line in any trade involving the 27-year-old.

Garland has had a decent start to the season through the team’s first two games of the year, scoring the team’s first goal of the season on Wednesday. He is also coming off a decent season in Vancouver, scoring 17 goals and 46 points last year, but his $4.95 million cap hit has been a source of contention in the market.

If a trade does come to fruition soon, it will be the second early-season swap for the Canucks, as they recently acquired gritty bottom-six forward Sam Lafferty from the Toronto Maple Leafs days before the season started.

Otherwise, the Scituate, Massachusetts native is expected to suit up for Vancouver on Tuesday as they travel to Philadelphia for a date with the Flyers.