The Vancouver Canucks kicked off their preseason finale against the Edmonton Oilers on Friday night but were without forward Conor Garland.
Canucks head coach Rick Tocchet met with the media to discuss why Garland was out of tonight’s lineup.
“He tweaked something this morning,” Tocchet said. “He could have played if he had to, but, why? I didn’t want to chance it.”
The former Coyote was traded to Vancouver hours before the 2021 NHL entry draft kicked off. This move sent Antoine Roussel, Loui Eriksson, Jay Beagle, the ninth overall pick (Dylan Guenther) in that draft, a 2022 second-round pick (later traded to the Minnesota Wild, drafting Hunter Haight), and a 2023 seventh-round pick (later traded to the San Jose Sharks, drafting Yegor Rimashevskiy) in exchange for Garland and defenceman Oliver Ekman-Larsson.
Garland’s first three seasons in Vancouver have been the best of his career. He boasted a 27-goal, 57-point season in 2021-2022, 17 goals and 46 points in 2022-2023, and 20 goals and 47 points in 2023-2024.
The Massachusetts native was one-third of one of the most dominant third lines in all of hockey last season, playing alongside Dakota Joshua and Teddy Blueger. The trio helped carry the Canucks to wins, bringing a force of energy from the bottom six that other teams could not match.
With Joshua on the shelf, still recovering from his successful cancer removal surgery, while Blueger’s been sidelined after a surgery of his own this offseason, Garland has found chemistry with Nils Höglander and preseason standout Aatu Räty.
The former fifth-round pick has earned high praise from Tocchet during this preseason, showing that no matter who he plays with, he can drive his own line despite two new linemates.
“[They had] Another good practice [Garland, Höglander and Räty]. I think Gars [Garland] does a good job of kind of making that line go, and they were good today.”
Garland will have five days to recover from this ailment before the Canucks kick off their season on Wednesday night, as they welcome the Calgary Flames to Rogers Arena for their season opener.
