Insider Suggests New Possible Favorite As Trade Destination for Conor Garland

Conor Garland is still in the midst of a 5-year contract that he signed with the Vancouver Canucks in 2021, but we learned this past week that he has been granted permission by the Canucks to "look for trades with other teams in the NHL to see if there’s a better fit for him," according to Insider Elliotte Friedman.

Friedman has now suggested that the Nashville Predators are one of those 'better fits' for Garland.

One team I'm curious about here is Nashville... I've kind of wondered about them. One, they have cap room, two, they're looking for the kind of player that would fit with (Preds GM) Barry Trotz and (head coach) Andrew Burnette.

Garland carries a $4.95M cap hit for the next three seasons (including this year), so that throws a bit of a wrench into any discussions.

Per Friedman:

Vancouver is going to have to incentivize this. There's a couple of teams telling me they're probably going to have to (retain) at least 30% (about $1.5M) and see what other sweetener is there. But I had a couple of people tell me that of all the teams that make sense, it could be Nashville.

Things just haven't worked out on the West Coast for the talented 27-year-old since arriving in that ill-fated trade that brought him and Oliver Ekman-Larsson to Vancouver (OEL has since been bought out by the Canucks).

Limited to just over 15 minutes per game in his two seasons there, and generally unable to crack the top-six on most nights, Garland is thought to be looking for a spot to better showcase his skills. Notably, his moment on the top line with Elias Pettersson on opening night this week resulted in this beautiful goal: