Conor Garland hasn’t let the trade rumours affect him too much; he scored in the Vancouver Canucks’ first game of the season against the Edmonton Oilers. The team gave him permission to seek a trade, and he’s been fully cooperative in that regard, alongside his newly-hired agent.
In recent days, Canucks insider Rick Dhaliwal and NHL insider Elliotte Friedman have both acknowledged a registered trade interest from the Nashville Predators in Garland. As we’ve come to learn, the primary reason for trying to facilitate a trade for the 27-year-old is his contract. Including this season, Garland has three years remaining at a $4.95 million cap hit.
On Dhaliwal’s Donnie and Dhali podcast, he also said that teams think Garland is a ‘$3 million player and not a $5 million player’. When we’re talking money in today’s salary landscape, that $2 million difference is a big one, and for both sides of the equation.
We previously hypothesized the Predators could indeed be a fitting trade partner for the Canucks, given their available cap space and a host of forwards on expiring contracts this year. In any case, Vancouver would likely be targeting a Nashville defender, such as pending RFA and right-shot defenseman Dante Fabbro.
The $2.5 million man was a healthy scratch for the Preds in their first game of the year, but drew in for the second game at the expense of free agent signing Luke Schenn. However, it’s also been speculated that the Canucks would have to settle for right-shot defenseman Alexandre Carrier instead, but that might not work for Vancouver.
The 27-year-old is an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season, which means the Canucks would be sacrificing a team-controlled asset for a player who could potentially walk for free if he so chooses. Plus, Carrier is older than Fabbro and isn’t necessarily the better player either.
Garland’s value is ultimately the sticking point here, but his contract truly isn’t that bad; the situation is overblown because of how poorly the Canucks have managed their money over the years, as well as their incredibly shortsighted acquisitions that include Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Tyler Myers.
The former Arizona Coyote is a more than capable middle-six winger at the NHL level, and he plays an efficient game at both ends of the ice. Indeed, the Canucks want to free up some money, but Garland is certainly a good player who deserves more than to be a cap dump to no fault of his own.
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If the Predators are in fact the team showing the most interest, the Canucks need to feign interest in Carrier and continue to make a push for Fabbro. Their trade history suggests they’ve been pushover bargainers, and they need to work towards a deal that will truly benefit them in both the short-term and the long-term.