5 trade packages for Vancouver Canucks’ Conor Garland

#2. Canucks swap offense for defense

For some strange reason, the Nashville Predators are not playing right-shot defenseman Dante Fabbro to start the season and have instead opted to make him a healthy scratch. Preds fans are already clamoring for the former first-round pick to be reinstated in the starting lineup, and the Canucks should cash in while they still can.

Nashville currently has a little under $8 million in cap space, and they’ll soon need to re-sign important pending free agents like young stars Phil Tomasino and Juuso Parssinen. On the other hand, Tyson Barrie and Alexandre Carrier – who are both ahead of Fabbro on the right side of that defense – are both pending free agents as well.

Simply put, the Preds cannot keep everyone, and the pending RFA Fabbro is no exception. Garland comes at a fixed price for three more years, and would easily be an upgrade in their middle-six over the likes of Kieffer Sherwood.

By buying low on Fabbro, the Canucks can address a need immediately by slotting the 25-year-old into their top-four. Fabbro only makes $2.5 million this year, so Vancouver also makes a little bit of breathing room for themselves – for now.