{"id":491928,"date":"2026-03-07T20:58:17","date_gmt":"2026-03-07T20:58:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/491928\/"},"modified":"2026-03-07T20:58:17","modified_gmt":"2026-03-07T20:58:17","slug":"conor-garland-trade-why-trading-conor-garland-to-the-columbus-blue-jackets-will-help-the-canucks-rebuild-their-roster-nhl-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/491928\/","title":{"rendered":"Conor Garland Trade: Why trading Conor Garland to the Columbus Blue Jackets will help the Canucks rebuild their roster | NHL News"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"WhyVancouver Canucks traded Conor Garland earlier this week to the Columbus Blue Jackets (Image via Getty Images) Before the NHL trade deadline hit, the Vancouver Canucks traded their forward Conor Garland to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday for a third-round pick in the 2026 NHL Draft and a second-round pick in the 2028 NHL Draft. According to reports, Garland, who is in the final season of a five-year, $24.75 million contract signed with Vancouver on July 27, 2021. He later signed a six-year, $36 million contract ($6 million AAV) with the Canucks on July 1, 2025, that begins next season.Though he is regarded as one of the most promising players in the NHL, Conor Garland has experienced a difficult offensive season, recording seven goals and 19 assists for 26 points in 50 games. Reports suggest that this score was his lowest since his rookie campaign in the 2018\u201319 NHL season. Despite this, the decision by the Vancouver Canucks to move forward with Conor Garland has sparked debate among fans, but NHL analyst believes the trade was a logical step for a franchise entering a rebuild.<\/p>\n

Conor Garland\u2019s trade decision was necessary for the Vancouver Canucks<\/p>\n

Vancouver Canucks\u2019 decision to trade forward Conor Garland <\/a>to the Columbus Blue Jackets fits with the team\u2019s plan to rebuild its roster. The Vancouver Canucks traded the forward on Thursday for a third-round pick in the 2026 NHL Draft and a second-round pick in the 2028 NHL Draft.Speaking about his trade, Garland stated, \u201cIt kind of happened pretty quick last night, but I\u2019m excited. It\u2019s obviously a great team; they\u2019ve been on a tear for the last little bit, right in the thick of a playoff race. He further added that, \u201cIt\u2019s an exciting time of the year when you\u2019re in a playoff race; there\u2019s nothing like watching the standings, watching other teams every night. Really excited to join them.\u201dThough some questioned the decision of his trade, an NHL analyst believes that this move was necessary for the Canucks. Speaking about the move, analyst Irfaan Gaffar explained that the situation inside the Canucks organization began deteriorating after the departure of captain Quinn Hughes, who was one of the promising players of the team.Gaffar added, \u201cAfter Quinn Hughes left, one of Connor Garland\u2019s best friends, things started to go really sideways for Vancouver,\u201d Gaffar said. \u201cThe season was completely off the rails, with rumors of players being traded, and Kiefer Sherwood obviously being traded. And then now Conor Garland.\u201d He also said that this move would give the Canucks financial flexibility rather than immediate value, and believes that this season would be very good for the organization. \u201cBut for the Vancouver Canucks, this is the beginning of something that is very good. This is the beginning of getting off of money that you don\u2019t need. This is the beginning of getting off of players that you probably don\u2019t need, and it was time for them to go.\u201dGaffar further added that the deal reflects a new direction for the organization, moving on from expensive contracts and veteran players who may not fit the team\u2019s long-term timeline.Besides, Conor Garland\u2019s addition to the Blue Jackets would bring a big boost to the team, as the Blue Jackets (32-21-8) are currently fourth in the Metropolitan Division, one point behind the Boston Bruins for the second wild card into the playoffs from the Eastern Conference.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Vancouver Canucks traded Conor Garland earlier this week to the Columbus Blue Jackets (Image via Getty Images) Before…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":491929,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5128],"tags":[894,230,8337,5,41042,4,548,9637,893,27,5313],"class_list":["post-491928","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-vancouver-canucks","tag-canucks","tag-columbus-blue-jackets","tag-conor-garland-trade","tag-hockey","tag-metropolitan-division-standings","tag-nhl","tag-nhl-trade-deadline","tag-rebuilding-nhl-teams","tag-vancouver","tag-vancouver-canucks","tag-vancouvercanucks"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116189903073057009","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/491928","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=491928"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/491928\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/491929"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=491928"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=491928"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=491928"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}