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Conor Garland

Latest On Conor Garland

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Just before the start of the season, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reported that the Vancouver Canucks had given forward Conor Garland and his agency full freedom to find a suitable trade partner for the winger. Unfortunately, for most teams at this time of year, especially teams that are destined for a postseason run at the conclusion of the season, cap space is hard to come by, especially to fit in Garland’s $4.95MM until 2025-26.

However, nearly a week ago, Kevin Weekes of ESPN reported that the Canucks would be willing to retain as high as 30% of Garland’s salary for the next three seasons, meaning any acquiring team would only owe him approximately $3.465MM in total salary. Realistically speaking, even with the hypothetical retention of Garland’s salary, there are only seven teams with enough cap space to take on a discounted Garland, without moving out a salary in the process.

On a positive note in regards to the potential trade of Garland, David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period wrote in an article last week that the Washington Capitals are interested in adding a top-six forward, as the offense has looked completely stagnant out of the gate. In the same article, Pagnotta notes that the Capitals could look to move out forward Anthony Mantha in any deal made to acquire Garland.

Unfortunately, with a roster surplus and salary cap problems of their own, the Canucks would be unable to take on the $5.7MM owed to Mantha for the rest of the season, even if no money was retained on Garland, complicating that hypothetical deal entirely. In the same vein, passing on a note from Friedman, Rick Dhaliwal of The Athletic confirms that the Capitals are indeed interested in acquiring Garland, but are trying to move Mantha in a separate trade.

For Garland, if Mantha becomes the domino that must fall before he is eventually moved out of Vancouver, the time frame on a potential trade has likely been extended to the trade deadline. Given the fact that Mantha has now been healthy scratched by the Capitals to start the year, Washington will likely have to move out significant assets in any trade involving Mantha, simply to entice the other party to absorb the rest of his contract.

Snapshots: Golden Knights, Sharks, Sabres, Capitals

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Vegas Golden Knights head coach Bruce Cassidy shared that defenseman Alec Martinez is likely to make his season debut in the team’s Thursday night matchup against the Winnipeg Jets. Martinez has carried a day-to-day injury designation for the whole month, coping with an upper-body injury and remaining on the team’s injured reserve. He returned to practice in a no-contact jersey on Tuesday and is traveling with the team for a two-game road trip.

Martinez appeared in 77 games with Vegas last season, recording 14 points and 29 penalty minutes. It was the most he’s played for the Golden Knights since joining them midway through the 2019-20 season, with each of his last two seasons being limited by an injured reserve designation. Martinez has played 166 career games with Vegas, tallying 62 points and 51 penalty minutes.

Other notes from around the league:

Latest On Conor Garland Trade Market

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Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported today on the 32 Thoughts podcast that he believes that Luke Schenn’s injury will lower the probability that the Nashville Predators get involved in the Conor Garland sweepstakes. Friedman theorizes that the Canucks’ desired return for Garland could be defenseman Dante Fabbro, but given the injury to fellow defenseman Schenn, the Predators will likely have less of an appetite to make the move.

The Predators announced this morning that Schenn would be out 4-6 weeks with a lower body injury leaving Nashville a man short on the back end and unlikely to further deplete their defense core. The Predators have a need at forward, but given Friedman’s words, it appears that they don’t want to create a hole to fill another one.

For the Canucks, the injury could remove one potential suitor for the 27-year-old Garland from a trade market that already favors the buyer. The NHL Network’s Kevin Weekes reported today that the Canucks are willing to retain around 30% of Garland’s cap hit for the remaining two years, a step that may be necessary to move the player in a difficult trade market that has so many teams within $1MM of the salary cap ceiling.

The Canucks appear to be hopeful that they can clear some cap space with the Garland move to facilitate other transactions and give the team some much-needed salary cap flexibility. But, unless another team has an early season injury to a winger, the Canucks may need to be patient and wait until the trade deadline when teams will have more flexibility under the cap. The Canucks have been proactive in their approach and gave Garland’s agent permission to seek a trade to another, but nothing has materialized at this time.

Garland’s playing time has been down significantly to start the season as he has averaged just 11:34 of ice time through the first three games of the season, down substantially from the 15:16 of ice time he has averaged throughout his six-year career. The native of Scituate, Massachusetts, has posted 84 goals and 111 assists in 325 NHL games and has been difficult to play against throughout his career, despite being undersized.

Morning Notes: Garland, Norris, Arvidsson

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The Vancouver Canucks are receiving interest from multiple teams after granting forward Conor Garland permission to seek a trade earlier this week, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported last night on Saturday Headlines. Friedman singled out the Columbus Blue Jackets, Nashville Predators and Winnipeg Jets as parties that have displayed interest but said there are likely other teams that have called the Canucks.

Garland logged a highlight-reel goal in the Canucks’ season-opener last week, but he’s been otherwise held off the scoresheet through two games and has been used quite sparingly by head coach Rick Tocchet. He’s played less than ten minutes in each of the team’s first two contests against the Oilers, and it’s becoming clear there’s no path to any significant role for Garland in Vancouver. The 27-year-old carries a $4.95MM cap hit through the 2025-26 season and has a history of strong middle-six production, something he’s likely to rediscover in a new environment, given his historically strong underlying numbers.

Friedman also added some clarity on what a Garland trade may eventually look like, noting that GM Patrik Allvin is looking to clear between $1MM and $2MM of cap space in this deal. That could come either via a total contract swap or retaining salary on Garland in a deal for draft picks or buriable players.

Elsewhere around the NHL this morning:

  • Also coming from Friedman last night, the Ottawa Senators expect center Josh Norris to return to practice today in a non-contact jersey ahead of their game against the Tampa Bay Lightning. A return for their former 35-goal man is not imminent, but Friedman reports the Senators hope Norris will be able to return to contact practice later this week and offer a more definitive timeline for his return. The team has held off placing him on LTIR up until this point, signaling optimism that he’ll be able to return by the end of the month. Norris’ shoulder injury and subsequent setbacks have limited him to just eight games since the start of last season. Norris is beginning the second season of an eight-year, $63.6MM deal carrying a $7.95MM cap hit.
  • Things are not looking up for Los Angeles Kings forward Viktor Arvidsson, who remains on LTIR after missing the first two games of the season with a back injury. It seems this could turn into an even more significant absence, as GM Rob Blake told NHL.com yesterday that Arvidsson “may have to have surgery,” which would put him out on a month-to-month basis and extend his stay on LTIR well past the minimum ten games and 24 days. If he doesn’t have surgery, he will be eligible to return for the team’s November 4 game against Philadelphia. Blake said Arvidsson sustained the injury during practice on the first day of the regular season, and subsequent diagnosis revealed surgery may be an option.

Vancouver Canucks Reportedly Grant Conor Garland Permission To Seek Trade

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According to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, Vancouver Canucks forward Conor Garland has been given permission “to talk to other teams about a potential trade.”

This news comes after it was reported earlier today by PuckPedia that Garland had switched agents, and is now being represented by Judd Moldaver of Wasserman Hockey.

Per Postmedia’s Ben Kuzma, Canucks President of Hockey Operations Jim Rutherford said “we’re not going to comment on that” regarding the reports on Garland.  Today’s news isn’t exactly a surprising development, as rumors have long circulated about a divorce between Garland and the Canucks.

The 27-year-old winger is a holdover from the Canucks’ previous administration, a remnant of the ill-fated Oliver Ekman-Larsson blockbuster trade, a deal that ultimately doomed Jim Benning and Travis Green as key decision-makers in Vancouver.

For quite a few reasons, Garland looks to be the sort of player that would generate quite a bit of interest leaguewide.

Even dating back to his days with the Arizona Coyotes, Garland has scored at a respectable rate. He potted 17 goals and 46 points last season, and had 19 goals and 52 points in 2021-22.

Garland is a shifty winger who blends crafty offensive play with a bit of an agitator quality. There’s a lot to like about his game, and yet at this point a trade out of Vancouver appears unlikely.

Why? For a few reasons. First and foremost: his contract. Garland is set to make $4.95MM against the cap for the next three seasons, and while that isn’t a totally unreasonable price for a player with his numbers, it’s not exactly a bargain.

Moreover, Garland stands at just five-foot-eight according to EliteProspects, and recent trends in how NHL teams allocate cap space have angled more towards wingers who bring size to the table.

Additionally, while Garland’s cap hit is $4.95MM he does own a backloaded contract, meaning any team acquiring him would be on the hook to pay $17MM in cash to Garland over the course of the three-year commitment.

So while Garland the player is undoubtedly one that would interest many NHL teams (players who can score 20 goals and 50 points reliably do not grow on trees) Garland the asset is one that is quite a bit more difficult to move.

Any trade negotiated between the Canucks and an interested club would almost undoubtedly require salary retention or money coming back to Vancouver.

That makes this trade a difficult one to complete mid-season, and although the Canucks have three retained salary slots remaining the already massive amount of dead money on their books through the Ekman-Larsson buyout could make the team weary to take on any additional dead cap commitments.

In other words, while there are undoubtedly teams that would love to add Garland to their roster, it would take quite a bit of creativity to reach a place where a trade could actually be completed.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images. 

Offseason Notes: Canucks, Capitals, Penguins

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With a murky salary cap situation and a glut of forwards ready and able to play in the NHL next season, the Vancouver Canucks should not be considered done with their lineup tweaking leading into training camp this September. Patrick Johnston of The Province agrees with that narrative, indicating that the Cancuks appear forced to move out a winger before the season begins.

Taking into account the probable return of forward Tanner Pearson, Johnston argues that Vancouver has five wingers set to fill three spots in the lineup. With Pearson, the Canucks have Vasily Podkolzin, Conor Garland, Brock Boeser, and Nils Hoglander set to fill three open spots on the wing for Vancouver. The team does have some flexibility with Pearson, however; if he is not ready for NHL minutes after the conclusion of training camp, the team could waive him and assign him to the AHL, as it is unlikely that another team would put in a claim.

It’s never a problem to have too much depth in the NHL, and the Canucks may wait out training camp before making a significant move to thin out their roster, but they have put themselves in a territory to make a move regardless. Boeser has been the one name most oft-mentioned in trade rumors over the last several years, as well as Garland more recently, but the two may provide too much on-ice value to Vancouver to have them seriously consider a trade that far in advance of the trade deadline.

Other notes:

  • This summer, the Washington Capitals and their General Manager, Brian MacLellan, have been adamant about adding some forward depth to the lineup. Having this in mind, Sammi Silber of The Hockey News asserts that the Capitals should entertain the idea of bringing in free agent Jesse Puljujarvi on a professional tryout for training camp. Throughout his time in the NHL, Puljujarvi has not lived up to being the fourth-overall selection of the 2016 NHL Draft. However, as Silber points out in her article, the new Capitals head coach, Spencer Carbery, has excelled throughout his career in getting the most out of up-and-coming players and may be exactly what Puljujarvi needs to turn his career around.
  • Mark Scheig of The Hockey Writers is reporting that the Pittsburgh Penguins have hired Cam Charron as a Hockey Research and Development Analyst. Charron had previously held a similar title with the Toronto Maple Leafs for the previous eight seasons and will join the new President of Hockey Operations, Kyle Dubas, in his transition to Pittsburgh.

USA Hockey Announces First 22 Players For 2023 Worlds

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The first 22 players that will compete for Team USA at the upcoming IIHF World Hockey Championship have been named, with an interesting mix of NHL experience and college excitement.

Lane Hutson is the youngest player in the group at just 19 years old, and he’ll be sharing the ice with 35-year-old Nick Bonino, the oldest. General manager Chris Clark released the following:

The depth of our player pool is reflected with our team and we’re excited about the group we have to represent our country at the world championship. We’ve got a great mix of experience and youth and most of our players have represented the U.S. before and know what it takes to be successful at a world championship.

The team will start training on Saturday in Munich, before a pre-tournament game on Tuesday. The tournament schedule for the U.S. begins next Friday, against Finland.

Here’s a look at the 22 players that have made the team so far:

G Casey DeSmith
G Drew Commesso
G Cal Petersen

D Henry Thrun
D Connor Mackey
D Ronnie Attard
D Dylan Samberg
D Scott Perunovich
D Lane Hutson
D Nick Perbix

F Samuel Walker
F Drew O’Connor
F Luke Tuch
F Nick Bonino
F T.J. Tynan
F Cutter Gauthier
F Sean Farrell
F Anders Bjork
F Matthew Coronato
F Conor Garland
F Alex Tuch
F Carter Mazur

Canucks Deadline Notes: Miller, Garland, Turcotte

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The Vancouver Canucks already made a minor trade on deadline day, sending Curtis Lazar to the New Jersey Devils for a 2024 fourth-round pick. They are certainly a team in transition and it sounds like they are actively looking to make a few more deals today. Farhan Lalji of TSN reports there is talk of J.T. Miller’s name being out there in trade talks today.

The gritty forward has already signed an eight-year extension that begins next season, but has quickly fallen out of favor with the Canucks. He has 20 goals and 54 points in 60 games this season, but the Canucks are looking to shake things up.

  • Jacob Stoller of The Hockey News reports that Conor Garland’s name is also out there in trade talks. He says that the team is interested in acquiring an effective NHL player in exchange for Garland, and do not want to deal him just for draft picks. The 26-year-old winger has three more years left on his contract with a cap hit of $4.95MM.
  • As for who the Canucks may be interested in acquiring, David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period reports they have checked in on Alex Turcotte. Turcotte was the fifth-overall pick in the 2019 NHL Draft and has 14 points in 24 AHL games for the Ontario Reign this season.

Snapshots: Stone, Harkins, Zohorna, Sergachev

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The Vegas Golden Knights will be without Mark Stone for the next little while, announcing that he is week-to-week with an upper-body injury. That will scare a lot of fans worried about his back, but head coach Bruce Cassidy wouldn’t comment. As much as anything, Vegas’s return to contention has a lot to do with the play of Stone, who managed just 37 (rarely healthy) games last season.

Through 43 appearances this year, the 30-year-old forward has 17 goals and 38 points, and once again has taken his place as one of the best two-way players in the game. A lengthy absence will be a huge blow to the Golden Knights, especially given how close the standings are in the Pacific Division. Remember, Vegas led the division at this point last year too, only to fall out of the race and miss the playoffs completely by the end of the season.

  • The Winnipeg Jets have recalled Jansen Harkins under emergency conditions as several forwards deal with a non-COVID illness. To make room, Ville Heinola has been sent back to the minor leagues. Harkins, 25, has scored five goals in 22 games this season with the Jets, but was getting just a handful of shifts the last couple of times he dressed in the NHL. Heinola, meanwhile, has appeared just eight times, recording his first point of the season earlier this month.
  • Radim Zohorna continues his daily shuffle, this time headed back down to the AHL. The big forward has already been involved in five transactions this month, going down between games so that the Flames can save some cap space.
  • Mikhail Sergachev’s wallet is a little bit lighter after he was handed a $5,000 fine for punching Conor Garland in last night’s Tampa Bay Lightning-Vancouver Canucks game. The play went unpenalized by the on-ice officials, causing confusion among anyone watching the game. The Lightning are lucky Sergachev isn’t getting sat down for a game, though perhaps that has to do with the fact that Garland attempted a similar shot a few seconds earlier. Iain MacIntyre of Sportsnet reports that Sergachev apologized to Garland after the game and that the Vancouver forward was “used to it” because he has “played like a rat” since he was 16.

Snapshots: Tkachuk, Stars, Garland

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With Drake Batherson now signed, the Senators can squarely turn their focus to getting a new deal done with RFA winger Brady Tkachuk.  Speaking with reporters, including Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch, GM Pierre Dorion declined to comment on the status of negotiations, only stating that “We’ve had productive, positive discussions with Brady’s camp” which would contrast a recent report from TSN1200’s Shawn Simpson who relayed (Twitter link) that there is some frustration setting in with Tkachuk’s camp.

The 21-year-old could be eyeing Andrei Svechnikov’s eight-year, $62MM deal with Carolina as a legitimate comparable contract which would make him Ottawa’s highest-paid forward but would still keep him below Thomas Chabot’s $8MM AAV for the highest-paid player on the team.  As some of Ottawa’s top youngsters come up for new deals, trying to keep all of those below Chabot’s price tag would seem like a viable strategy for the Senators in an effort to keep their window for contention open as long as possible.

Elsewhere around the hockey world:

  • Stars head coach Rick Bowness told Matthew DeFranks of the Dallas Morning News that forwards Tyler Seguin (hip and knee), Roope Hintz (groin), Alexander Radulov (core), and defenseman Joel Hanley (core) have all recovered from their respective injuries and surgeries and will be ready for training camp. Seguin, in particular, will be a welcome return as he was only able to suit up in three games last season, managing a pair of goals in those contests.  They’re still not fully healthy, however, as there is plenty of uncertainty surrounding goalie Ben Bishop’s future which is why Braden Holtby was surprisingly signed in free agency this summer.
  • While winger Conor Garland believed the Bruins might show interest in him, he told Matt Porter of the Boston Globe that his camp never heard from Boston when Arizona was shopping him around the league. The 25-year-old Scituate native had identified Boston, Toronto, and Los Angeles as potential fits but he wound up being moved to Vancouver instead where he quickly signed a five-year, $24.75MM contract.  Garland wouldn’t rule out the idea of playing for his hometown team down the road but it won’t be happening anytime soon.

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