Conor Garland Traded to Columbus: Nucko’s Thoughts

Conor Garland wanted to be a Canuck. On July 1st, 2025, he signed a 6-year, $6 million contract extension with the team that will kick in at the start of next season. The contract includes a full no-movement clause for the first 3 years of the deal. Unfortunately for Garland, he's currently on the last year of a 5x4.95 with no trade protection. The Canucks took advantage of that on Thursday night.

Conor Garland was traded to the Columbus Blue Jackets for a 2028 2nd round pick and a 2026 3rd round pick. He had garnered a ton of interest from teams in the days leading up to the trade deadline. Columbus took the lead in discussions on Thursday, which were quite possibly urgent for them after Mason Marchment left their game with an injury. Columbus has been on an absolute heater since Rick Bowness took over the head coaching duties (classic new coach bump) and find themselves just 1 point out of the 2nd Wild Card spot in the East. Garland, a player who can slot in up and down the lineup, is the perfect addition for any team fighting for the playoffs.

As for the Canucks' return, many have been underwhelmed. I cannot say I feel the same. That's not to say I think it's the greatest return ever, I just didn't expect anything more. The 6x6 contract extension clearly weighed down any value that Garland had as trade bait at this deadline. That contract will pay him until he's 36, which is not ideal for a guy whose stats have already fallen off a cliff in the season he turns 30. Now, I'm sure he will do much better on Columbus than he's been doing on Vancouver recently, but that's not saying much. Garland's final Canucks goal came on December 16th (4 days after the Quinn Hughes trade) which is absolutely wild to think. That was also an empty-netter. When you consider those struggles, along with the big contract extension, Columbus was doing Vancouver a favour by taking on this contract and giving them two draft picks for it.

Although I am defending the return, it must be said that it's the front office's fault anyway. They're the ones who dished out this contract and lessened Garland's trade value. They don't deserve any gold stars for cleaning up their own messes. That's also the case if they trade Evander Kane today. It would be nice for them to get these problems off their hands, but they created these problems in the first place.

Garland's Canuck tenure will be remembered fondly. He played with so much heart, even during times when the rest of the team wasn't. Even though he was a pretty streaky player, he consistently ended up around the 50-point range in each of his 4 full seasons in Vancouver. That wasn't going to be the case this season, but let's face it, the only Canucks breaking their career highs this season are Filip Hronek and Drew O'Connor.

In the 2023-24 playoffs, Garland ended up with 5 points in 13 games. While this isn't impressive on the surface, the way he got those points was. The most memorable Conor Garland Canucks goal was in game 1 against Edmonton in the Western Conference Semi-Finals, where he scored the game-winner after Vancouver clawed their way back in the game from down 4-1. He also set up Elias Lindholm's overtime winner against Nashville in game 4, and Dakota Joshua's game-winner against Nashville in game 1. Though he didn't put up a lot of points in those playoff rounds, the points he did manage were clutch.

Garland has the unfortunate distinction of being part of one of the worst trades in Canucks history, but it's not his fault. Essentially, though, the Canucks traded Dylan Guenther for a 2nd, a 3rd, and $4 million worth of buyout money each season. Though Garland was never able to quite make that trade okay, he did as much as anyone could have expected from him in Vancouver. Can't blame him for Jim Benning being terrible at his job.

Garland will be missed in Vancouver, but this trade was absolutely necessary. He was the easiest veteran with term to move, due to the lack of NMC in his current contract, and they have to move on from veterans if they want to commit to this rebuild properly. I am absolutely okay with this trade, even if the return wasn't quite as high as it could've been. I think my emotions have been shut off after the Quinn Hughes trade. It takes a lot to hurt me.

It's now officially deadline day, and the Canucks still have some work to do. Not a whole lot, but they at least have to trade Evander Kane. I cannot watch him in a Canucks jersey anymore. Blueger, Kampf, and O'Connor are other guys to be looking at today. We'll see what they decide on. Just don't sign anyone to a 6 year deal.