It's now or never for the Vancouver Canucks to trade Conor Garland
Conor Garland has been an absolute warrior for the Vancouver Canucks.
Despite arriving in Vancouver based on a blunderous trade by a desperate Jim Benning, one of the NHL’s smallest players has proven to be a legitimate second-line winger.
Not only that, but he’s been eager to take on different roles with the club. Garland lacked ice time on the Canucks top power play unit or penalty kill earlier in his Vancouver tenure. Now, he’s on both the first power play and penalty killing units.
He’s a valuable commodity in the NHL, more so than his career point totals with the Canucks would suggest.
Unfortunately, with where the Canucks are, that’s exactly why they need to explore trading him.
The Canucks are rapidly running out of valuable trade chips.
Frankly, in terms of players who don’t have trade protection, Garland might be the only one left.
Unless the Canucks explore trading a player with a full-move clause, like Elias Pettersson or Filip Hronek, most of their other tradable assets are players who would likely command a third-round pick at best.
With Garland, if he sticks with the Canucks past the deadline, he’ll also join the growing list of players who have trade protection.
The 30-year-old signed a six-year extension to remain with Vancouver back on July 1st. His deal pays him $6 million per season. It also has a no-movement clause for the first three years of the deal, before it converts to a 15-team no-trade list.
That’s why now is the time to trade Garland.
The 2026 NHL Draft is shaping up to potentially be one of the biggest days in Canucks history, as the team has two first-round picks and two second-round picks for the first time ever.
But the goal should be to acquire more.
Unfortunately, the Canucks dreadful season has impacted the bottom line for Garland as well.
At least the Canucks were able to capitalize on a hot start from Kiefer Sherwood, collecting two second-round picks for him from the San Jose Sharks.
The Canucks should conceivably net a similar return for Garland, based on the fact that he’s consistently put up 45-50 points per season, and that he can comfortably play anywhere from the first to the third line.
Right now though, Garland is in the worst slump of his career. He hasn’t picked up a point in 11 games, something that has never happened to him before at the NHL level.
It’s almost like he’s trying not to be traded.
There’s certainly an argument to keep Garland in Vancouver among the veterans to help with this rebuild. His story of sticking in the NHL after being doubted continuously is a good lesson for younger players.
And, if it weren’t for a glut of borderline-immovable contracts on the Canucks, it might make sense.
Veterans like Brock Boeser and Thatcher Demko wouldn’t net Vancouver any value on the trade market. The Canucks are also unlikely to get much for the struggling Jake DeBrusk. Defencemen Hronek and Marcus Pettersson are locked up long-term with no-movement clauses.
Vancouver already has multiple veterans that are likely to stick around based on their contract status, leaving Garland as one of the lone valuable trade candidates this team has left.
The Canucks can’t get attached to players based on their contributions to the organization. Teams like the Chicago Blackhawks won multiple cups by making ruthless decisions, such as trading Andrew Ladd and Dustin Byfuglien at the height of their powers. Even rebuilding teams on the rise, like the Montreal Canadiens, found a star in second-round pick Lane Hutson by trading beloved defenceman Brett Kulak.
If a contender is willing to part with something similar to the Sherwood package for Garland, the Canucks need to strongly consider pulling the trigger.