Canucks might now regret trading Conor Garland

A little over two years ago, the Vancouver Canucks essentially tried to push Conor Garland out the side door. Even her has his agent scouring the league to see if anyone wanted it. That tells you how weird hockey can be, because now, after watching him this year, the idea of ​​trading him feels downright backward.

Garland is undersized, but plays with a big heart

Garland is like this undersized little terrier who refuses to go away. The man is 6 feet tall and weighs 165 pounds. That’s smaller than half the roster, but plays like he’s 6-foot-4 and carved out of concrete. He’s all legs and elbows and fighting.

He jumps into every scrum, every puck chase, every board fight like he’s defending his front yard. Coaches and fans alike love that kind of thing. Teammates love it. Opponents? Not so much – and that’s exactly why he matters.

This season was a downer for Garland, but still…

Certainly, his numbers this season aren’t exploding off the page. Seven goals, 25 points in 46 games are far from good. But he has always been a double-digit goalscorer every season he has played in the league.

But goals are not the whole story. Pendulum drives energy. He changes the feeling of a shift. When the Canucks look flat, he’s one of the few guys who can drag the group into contention through sheer stubbornness. Any team with any real hope for the playoffs needs a few players like that: the honest workers who don’t take a night off, who keep the engine running.

Since the Canucks are loaded with young players, someone who plays with an edge every game seems crucial to the team’s successful reset. Garland is a tone setter. He shows up, plays hard, squeaks everyone, annoys entire defensive combinations and still has enough skill to turn a clean sheet into a scoring opportunity. If you’re trying to build a culture – and Vancouver keeps telling us it is – Garland is the kind of guy you build it with, not send it away.

Can the Canucks get a good return for Garland? Certainly.

Could the team get a good return for him? Absolute. Some teams desperate to get a score in the mid-six and apply pressure would cough up something pretty decent. Maybe even a first, depending on the market.

But what then? If the Canucks were smart, they would use every possible pick to find another guy just like Garland? Why not keep the real one that you already know works?

At 29, he’s young enough to be part of what the next phase looks like. He is competitive enough to drag others along with him. And he plays with the kind of bite that, frankly, the Canucks don’t have enough of.

The Canucks could trade Conor Garland. But they shouldn’t. He’s exactly the kind of heartbeat player the team will regret letting go, and the Canucks can’t afford another player like that.

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