Although the Vancouver Canucks gave Conor Garland and his new agent permission to speak to teams regarding a potential trade opportunity, that doesn’t appear to be something that’s close to coming to fruition.
Sportsnet analyst and Canucks Central host Satiar Shah doesn’t believe a trade is ‘imminent’ after checking in and a potential trade partner in the Nashville Predators might be pulling out of the conversation. Defenseman Luke Schenn is going to be sidelined for 4-6 weeks with a lower-body injury, and that means the Preds can’t afford to trade neither Alexandre Carrier nor Dante Fabbro at this time.
One team that has reportedly been sniffing around, though, is the Washington Capitals. The Capitals have no free money in terms of cap space, so any move that’s made between them and the Canucks will have to be a mostly linear one. Sonny Milano, Dylan Strome, and Tom Wilson all recently signed big extensions, so they won’t be going anywhere.
Right-shot defenseman Nick Jensen makes a lot of sense for the Canucks, but they’ll have to retain a bit of Garland’s salary to make the money even on both sides. Like Garland, Jensen is signed for three more years, but he has a cap hit of $4.05 million. And even though Jensen has been a very serviceable player, his term and age (33) will surely be a factor for Vancouver too.
It’s unclear how the Canucks plan to facilitate a trade with Garland, but it’s becoming more and more likely that this trade is going to be something for later on. The 27-year-old’s salary was always going to be the biggest roadblock in any potential deal, and the three years of term doesn’t make that any easier.
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In any case, the Canucks would be wise not to make a rash decision. Tyler Myers, Ian Cole, and Anthony Beauvillier are all on expiring contracts, and those alone would free up nearly $13 million on the cap.