Back in July of 2021, then-Vancouver Canucks General Manager Jim Benning swung for the fences in a trade that saw him land Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Conor Garland. In a vacuum, this trade might have seemed exciting at first glance. But like any good void worth its salt, it was merely the precursor to choking the life out of the team, robbing it of the rich oxygen it needed to live.

Despite the fact Jim Benning dumped several of his bad contracts in return (Antoine Roussel, Jay Beagle, Louis Eriksson), he also sent a first-round pick in the 2021 NHL draft (Dylan Guenther), along with a second-round pick in 2022 (Hunter Haight) and a 7th rounder in 2023 (Yegor Rimashevsky). Clearly, Dylan Guenther is the most notable name there (no offence to Yegor, who one scout described his skating as “mediocre” and “his pace felt quiet,” which is the polite way of a scout sending the vomit emoji to their boss), which for a team trying to build up its young core, felt like a major miss for the Canucks.

On top of that, they were one year away from having $12 million in cap space freed up by the exiting trio of veterans they had sent to Arizona. Instead, they found themselves taking on OEL’s large and insane substantive contract of $8.25 million, along with Conor Garland’s $5 million a year, effectively negating any cap savings of any kind. Even if you could see why Garland’s skill set was tantalizing to an NHL club, the timing of the deal felt off:

It felt like Jim Benning might have made this move to save his job, as this deal was absolutely steeped in gallons of panic; It generated the kind of smell that only occurs when you’re so stressed out that you can almost taste the sour notes of your sweat hanging heavily in the air. Making the playoffs to prove the team was trending upwards felt like the end goal of this trade, rather than building around the current young core and having a long-term plan in mind.

And even if the plan was to make the playoffs, the trade left a lot to be desired. Trading for OEL, a player whose 5-on-5 production and defending had fallen off a cliff in his last two seasons with Arizona, only to throw him into the chaos of a team that absolutely bled rush chances, was what many would call a “wtf are we even doing here” move. (Ironically enough, OEL would probably have fared much better under Rick Tocchet’s first full season as the coach of the Canucks, due to the new coach’s structured system neutering counter-rush chances, but he was never going to live up to an $8.25 million cap hit either way.) As pointed out, Garland was the most intriguing piece of this puzzle, but never to the point that you should have been comfortable committing $13 million in salary for 5+ years.

The end result of this trade was Jim Benning was fired months into the season. OEL’s contract was eventually bought out, hampering the Canucks salary cap even further, Garland struggled to find his role with the team as the team missed the playoffs yet again, and Dylan Guenther put up 35 points in 45 games in 2023, showcasing the promise of a top-line talent for many years to come:

Now you might be asking yourself, why are you going back in time like this, Wyatt? Why would you make us re-live our miserable past like this? Why would you recount a tale better suited for the middle act of Les Misérables, where even an amusing song from the master of the house singing about gouging prices on Steamer’s hot dogs is merely a thin veneer covering up a decade of sadness?

Because that is the context for this season of Conor Garland’s fantastic year for the Vancouver Canucks. In fact, Conor Garland has been a remarkably reliable player for the Canucks during his time with the team, putting up 52 points, 46 points, and 47 points respectively, despite his self admitted struggles to adjust to life in Vancouver early on. Despite the fact that before this season even began, he was told his agent could try and facilitate a trade to any team that would take him. Despite the fact he was essentially booted to the third line to start the year as he waited to see if he’d end up on a new team. He was basically stuck in a relationship that ended months ago, but he couldn’t afford a place of his own yet so he was riding things out on the couch for now.

That is where Conor Garland found himself in 2023, so it should be no surprise that he struggled to rack up points heading out of the gate, putting up a mediocre two points for the entire month of October. And if ever there was a downside to playing in a Canadian hockey market, it’s the dreaded combination of having a high salary with little production to show for it. Canadians are known for being polite, but if your points per game drops below an acceptable level for your contract, your picture gets put up at all the local Tim Hortons with a message in bold font urging you to boo this man on sight.

But then a funny thing happened in Vancouver. Despite Garland’s lack of production, the team had its best October in years, going 6-2-1 to start the season. Now, that didn’t mean people stopped calling for him to be traded, because his lack of offense was on display every night. The thing is, when you’re a team that’s winning? Well to quote a wealthy land owner, a lot of your negative issues start trending towards “champagne problems”. Suddenly people have more patience on their hands, and now they have a bit of optimism to spread around. Sure, the team should probably trade Garland away according to the fan base, but that was a minor thing compared to all of the winning going on. It’s easy to ignore the moldy sandwich in the fridge when you’ve got a 9 course meal sitting on the dining room table.

The team then carried their winning momentum into November going 9-6, before ending the year going 8-2-2 in December. I’m no mathematician, but winning multiple games for every game you lose felt like a good way to secure a spot in the NHL playoffs.

And it was during this stretch of hockey that Garland met some new friends in Dakota Joshua and Teddy KGB Blueger. They found themselves on the third line, with the space to breathe away from the harsh spotlight of losing in a Canadian city. And it was during the first half of the season that I think we truly saw the final form of Conor “Corolla” Garland.

And who was Corolla Garland? He was the driving force behind one of the most elite third lines in the NHL in the 2023/24 season. Not since Matt Cooke, Trevor Linden and Magnus Arvedson have the Canucks seen a third line boast of such consistent levels of offense and defensive ability, mixed in with some grit for good measure. There is a reason Dakota Joshua and Teddy Blueger excelled in their season with the Canucks and that is because, as fans found out, Conor Garland had the ability to drive a line at a high level.

Now, for a player that small, usually the deck is stacked against them in the NHL. But as we have seen throughout his time in Vancouver, he truly is one of the league’s most efficient players. His ability to generate shots and make high danger passes is one of the reasons his line played to such an elite level throughout the season, which doesn’t even get into his defensive prowess.

Want an incredible stat? Conor Garland led the team in takeaways with 51, beating out Elias Pettersson at 50. Want an even better stat? He only had 9 giveaways (Elias Pettersson had 30 for comparison). That is a ludicrous level of puck possession efficiency on display.

Now, don’t get me wrong, players like Elias Pettersson are bound to have more giveaways due to the high level of plays they’re attempting. Elias will try and dangle around two guys at once because there is a chance he can actually pull it off. So don’t read that stat as “Garland is better with the puck than Elias Pettersson”, instead read it as “This guy knows his role as a third line player is to protect the puck at all costs”, and there are few better at knowing their role in a way that only The Rock could truly appreciate than Conor Garland. Garland won’t dangle around three guys, instead he’ll get the puck deep into the offensive zone and then grind out puck battles left, right and center. It’s not the sexiest hockey out there, but sometimes wearing sensible pants for the weather is the right way to go.

Again, Garland is not a big player, but this is a guy who uses his size as a benefit to him, rather than a detriment. He uses a small stick which allows him to dart in and out of scrums, getting to the puck quicker than the big boys of the league. You want to lean on him to win a board battle? Garland gets tight to the ice with a low center of gravity, becoming a surprisingly formidable opponent to shove off the puck, as seen in that earlier battle drill. If I could post a hundred videos of Garland going into a scrum on the boards to win possession of the puck, I would, but Quads tells me “that’s excessive” and to “calm down” otherwise he’ll “fire me” and “ban me from the offices.”

For my money, there was no one better on the Canucks at winning board battles than Conor Garland. The confidence I have in watching Garland jump into a puck battle, and just KNOWING he’s going to leave with possession, is next level. I wish I had that kind of confidence in my dating game back in high school, I would have 100% ended up dating Rachel Bilson and/or bought a copy of The O.C. season 1 on DVD.

Even when on offense, he uses that low center of gravity to his benefit, utilizing what can only be described as a mini-stick hockey strategy:

It’s an amusing visual, and one that makes me giggle every time I see it. But the thing is, it’s efficient. There are few players who have found a way to make their small size work to their advantage like Conor Garland has. He truly is a student of game, trying to find any way he can to evolve his game. This is a guy you would think would get destroyed in the blue paint, but nope, he uses his size to slide in there and do damage:

Again, you’d think you could just easily shove him out of the way, but he drops his center of gravity right to the ice and just keeps whacking away, eventually scoring on the third or fourth attempt on the puck. And that gritty, resilient personality shows up in all aspects of his game, both on the defensive side, and the offensive side of the game. And as we saw a couple of years ago, even the fans aren’t safe from the intensity of Garland’s game:

Oddly enough, one of the highlights of the year for me from Conor Garland was a game back in April against the Golden Knights. With the Canucks trailing 6-3, and around six minutes left in the game, the Canucks turned the puck over into a two on one rush the other way. Most players would just let this rush play out and see what happens, using the beer league rules of “hey we all have to work tomorrow, best not to pull a calf muscle chasing this one down.”

But Corolla Garland is a different breed. Summoning his inner Jeff Tambellini, he back-checked like an absolute demon to help break the play up:

That’s the level of effort you get from Conor game in and game out, someone who would seemingly rather die than let the other team get a scoring chance while he’s on the ice. It’s a bloody 6-3 game out there and Garland is using every ounce of energy to make the defensive play, just in case there is even the slimmest of chances it allows his team to mount a stunning comeback.

Now here’s the thing, though. The part that really separates Garland from regular third liners? He also has a high level of skill that lets him play well with elite players. We’ve seen it in the past in Vancouver, the Steve Bernier’s come into town with good size and potential, but they just don’t have the hockey IQ or twitch skills to keep up with the top level players. For all of Andrei Kuzmenko’s defensive flaws, his ability to read the offensive zone and dance with Elias Pettersson is one of the main reasons he excelled in Vancouver on the offensive side of things. And Garland, he can just as easily play in your bottom six as he can on your top two lines:

One of the best passes on the season was made by Conor Garland when he won a puck battle along the boards (what else is new) and managed to find JT Miller with a no-look pass in the slot for the goal:

If this was Master Chef, that goal would be Corolla Garland on a plate. He gets a zone entry, loses the puck, but remains circling the zone until he can make a play along the boards again. He then fights off a check, draws in another defender, opening up space for his line mates, then spins and fires the perfect pass to a wide open JT Miller. Garland’s tenacity combined with his ability to play high end hockey is what makes him such a valuable player for the Vancouver Canucks.

This is the reason Rick Tocchet loves Garland’s game, and it’s because he knows he’s getting a player that tilts the ice the right way, and you can put him anywhere in the lineup and he is going to play solid hockey. Offensively, defensively, this is a guy that is going to give you absolutely everything he has.

I would also be remiss if I didn’t take a moment to mention that Conor Garland is currently the king of goal scoring celebrations for the Canucks as well:

Garland’s goal celebrations are a combination of stick twirls, ice scoops, fist pumps, and angrily demanding the crowd to get out of their god damn seats and bask in his glory. It’s downright delightful.

All of which is to say, Conor Garland? Hell of a regular season. Led an elite third line for most of the year, and helped get the Vancouver Canucks back into the playoffs. Which is where our story turns next, because Conor Garland? He was one of the most efficient players for the Canucks in the post-season. I mean, we can all readily admit, the team overall struggled to score goals in the second half of the season and in the playoffs. And were we to write a list of concerns for next year, it would be “Can Rick Tocchet adjust his system to produce more offense in tight games” instead of riding a super hot PDO and scoring at an absurd rate off of the rush in the first half of the season.

But even with the team struggling to score during their quest for Lord Stanley, the guy who showed up, won endless puck battles, and was one of the most consistent players during their run? Who else but Conor?

When the team struck against Nashville to get two goals in twelve seconds in game 1 against Nashville, who was the guy who won a puck battle on the second goal to feed Dakota Joshua out in front? Who else but Conor?

Who was the guy that sparked life in game four against the Oilers to try and drag his team back into the game? Who else but Conor?

Who forecheck hard with Elias Pettersson to cause a turnover and score a goal in the third period that breathed life into the Canucks in game 7 against the Oilers? A game that up until that point had killed the atmosphere in the building as the Canucks limped towards the finish line? Who else but Conor?

Never forget the Canucks had a JT Miller shot that hit Zadorov’s ankle in the dying seconds of the game that could have altered the Canucks course of history. All of which started with Conor Garland getting that first goal to finally give his team some momentum.

And who else to provide, in my humble opinion, the most memorable goal of the season, to cap off a three goal comeback against the Edmonton Oilers in game one? Who else but Conor:

The fake shot to open up the legs so he could slide in the shot from that angle? Chefs god damn kiss.

The thing that really made me realize Conor Garland is one of us, though? His comment after the game seven loss to the Oilers.

That’s the comment of a guy that is driven to win, if for no other reason so he doesn’t have to be haunted by his thoughts at night. That’s the kind of guy you win with.

We often talk about players in two terms: regular season and playoffs. Regular season heroes are fun and exciting, but ultimately anything achieved pales in comparison to the post-season. If you can’t get it done in the playoffs, your legacy just doesn’t hit the same way.

It’s why Markus Naslund will always be admired in Vancouver, but he never quite got to the levels that Trevor Linden did.

It’s why Nikita Zadorov became a legend in this town in such a short time frame, reaching legacy levels Bo Horvat was never able to achieve in all his years here. I am not faulting Bo Horvat for that, don’t get me wrong, I am merely pointing out that what you do in the playoffs echoes for eternity compared to regular season success.

Ryan Kesler, for all the WWE villainy he committed against Vancouver when he demanded a trade, will always be welcomed back for what he did in 2011, especially that series against Nashville.

All of which is why Conor Garland’s season can be deemed such a huge success. Not only did he perform admirably during the season, but he showed an ability to step up in hard games in the post-season, finding a way to make an impact in even the toughest of circumstances.

We don’t know what next season will bring, but one thing we can say for sure is, Conor Garland has set himself up to be a very important piece of the puzzle moving forward.

And he has 2023/24 to thank for that.