Vancouver Canucks forward Conor Garland is the first player to publicly comment on the split between Rick Tocchet and the Canucks, and had nothing but good things to say about his longtime NHL coach.
Having played for Tocchet on two different teams, Garland, 29, has learned a lot from Tocchet, both on and off the ice.
"I'm in a unique situation. I had Rick as a rookie in Arizona, missed him for a year, and then he came back and joined me in Vancouver again at a different stage of my life and career. I was very fortunate to have him," Garland told the NHL Network. "I was a young player. I really didn't understand the details of the game and what it took to win. I was more just relying on scoring and producing points, and he taught me the other side of the game and really filled out the rest of my game.
"I'll be forever grateful for that, and as I've gotten older and had a family and a kid, to me, I look at him as another father figure and a friend to me. When stuff happened in my personal life, he's one of the people you can lean on. Any team that gets him is going to be very lucky."
Garland broke out under Tocchet with the Arizona Coyotes in the 2019-20 season, scoring 20 goals for the first time and scoring 39 total points as a surprise middle-six contributor. Five seasons later, Garland again emerged as key cog in Tocchet's machine, scoring 19 goals, 31 assists, and 50 points this year while averaging a career-high 18:39.
Not many Canucks forwards were good this season relative to expectations, but Garland has given Tocchet a lot of credit for his continued progression and becoming the reliable player he is today.