Conor Garland is finally settling into a rhythm with the dominant Vancouver Canucks

Mike Gould
Mike Gould
Conor Garland is finally settling into a rhythm with the dominant Vancouver Canucks
Credit: Bob Frid-USA TODAY Sports

Conor Garland certainly isn’t the first player to take his time adjusting to new surroundings after a trade.

The 5-foot-10 winger struggled to replicate the scoring prowess he initially displayed with the Arizona Coyotes after being traded to the Vancouver Canucks back in 2021.

The Canucks acquired Garland and defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson from the Coyotes in exchange for a package that included the No. 9 pick in the 2021 NHL Draft. It’d be a tricky billing for anyone to live up to, especially considering how Ekman-Larsson struggled in Vancouver to the point of being bought out just two years later.

Garland is the only piece the Canucks have to show for that trade at this point — not including the eight years of buyout cost attached to Ekman-Larsson, of course. But while his numbers may not stand out at first glance, Garland has evolved into an indispensable part of a terrific third line for the first-place Canucks.

“What he’s done on the ice is a testament to him,” Canucks head coach Rick Tocchet said. “He’s come from a guy that was low on the totem pole in his mind to a guy that’s probably, arguably, been one of our best forwards all year, driving that line. It’s a hell of a line, that third line.

“He’s got a chip on his shoulder. I love when Garls has a chip on his shoulder, that’s when he plays his best.”

Tocchet is plenty familiar with Garland dating back to when the two of them were in Arizona together. Three years after the Coyotes selected Garland in the fifth round (No. 123 overall) of the 2015 NHL Draft, the Scituate, MA product debuted with the team and scored 13 goals in his first 47 games under Tocchet.

Garland proceeded to score 78 points in 117 games over the following two seasons with the Coyotes before being traded as an RFA to the Canucks, who subsequently locked him into a five-year deal at a $4.95 million AAV.

After two so-so seasons with the Canucks, Garland started the 2023–24 campaign surrounded by swirling rumors and speculation about his future in Vancouver. His slightly unwieldy cap hit, combined with the Canucks’ desire to improve, made him an easy target when discussing potential trade talks.

All that has largely subsided (or, more accurately, it’s shifted toward Andrei Kuzmenko). Since the Canucks united Garland, Teddy Blueger, and Dakota Joshua on their third line, almost nobody in Vancouver has brought up trading No. 8.

In a recent media availability in Vancouver, Garland credited Tocchet for helping him overcome all that external pressure earlier in the season.

“He was great at just trying to block out noise for me,” Garland said. “He just tried to keep me day-to-day. Those first six games were probably pretty tough on me, that first road trip especially. Any time that I was in a tough spot, [I was able] to lean on him.

“It’s well in the past now. We’re just enjoying a good stretch that we’ve had. We’re pretty focused.”

Garland had two goals and an assist in the Canucks’ big 6-4 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs back on Saturday. He’s now up to eight goals and 24 points in 47 games with the team this season, enough to rank sixth on the team in scoring.

But unlike in his previous years with the Canucks, Garland has finally found his niche. Although he’s not the biggest player or the top scorer, Garland is undeniably valuable in a middle-six role — especially when he has two strong checkers in Blueger and Joshua by his side.

Some media in Vancouver have taken to calling that particular trio the “Meat and Potatoes line,” with the idea being that Joshua is the “meat,” Blueger is the “potatoes,” and Garland, of course, is the “gravy.”

“Yeah, we don’t need a name,” Garland laughed. “We’re a third line, we’re a hard line to play against that just tries to chip in. There’s no need to be naming third lines. I know that happens a lot but there’s only certain lines in the league that should have a name. I liked the one in Boston, the ‘Perfection Line,’ that was pretty good.”

The Canucks have been one of the best stories in the NHL this season, shooting out of the gates to a 32-11-4 start through 47 games — good for 68 points, the most in the league. Their plus-59 goal differential also ranks atop the table.

Garland may not have the same impact down the line as Dylan Guenther, whom the Coyotes selected with the first-round pick they got back in that trade, but that doesn’t mean he should be overlooked. He’s a skilled and defensively capable forward who has the chops to be an unsung hero in a long playoff run.

It’s been nine years since the Canucks last made the Stanley Cup Playoffs in a non-COVID-impacted season. That’s a long time for fans to have to wait to watch playoff hockey in their home barn. Rogers Arena is one of the underrated palaces in the NHL, a building designed at its core to play host to big moments and crowds.

When the postseason finally does arrive in Vancouver this spring, keep an eye out for the usual suspects: Elias Pettersson, J.T. Miller, Quinn Hughes, Brock Boeser, and Thatcher Demko. All five of them are going to the All-Star Game next month, and for good reason. Each of them is a special player.

But what could make the Canucks sink or swim in the end will be the performance of their secondary players. Garland is right at the forefront of that group, which also includes Kuzmenko, Filip Hronek, Nils Höglander, Sam Lafferty, and Ilya Mikheyev.

“I mean, I don’t decide how much they go out there, but we’ve got a really good bottom six,” Garland said. “There’s not many players in the league on a fourth line with twelve goals like Höggy or Laffs. That’s a valuable thing for our team to roll those guys out there […] It just shows how good our depth is.”

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