Canucks: Career crossroads to culture carrier, Conor Garland's fight got it right

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Conor Garland was a mighty-mite minor hockey hotshot with big-city dreams.

However, he didn’t make the bantam team at the famed Shattuck-Saint Mary’s factory in Minnesota that produced NHL stars such as Sidney Crosby, Jonathan Toews and Zach Parise. Garland was deemed too small, and even as a young teenager, he realized carving out a career required considerable resolve.

“It’s not going to be easy where you want to go,” the Vancouver Canucks’ plucky right winger told Postmedia. “It definitely added a bitterness, or whatever, but it was a great thing to happen to me.”

Adversity stuck to Garland like gum to a shoe because in a big man’s game it’s difficult for any 5-foot-8 dynamo to measure up. Fast forward and a six-year, $36-million US extension on July 1 was proof the journey is the adventure for the 29-year-old hockey lifer, driver and survivor.

He has helped define and carry the Canucks’ culture that will be tested next season.

Garland, who has a year remaining on his existing contract, had 19 goals and 50 points in 2024-2025, and his average of 18:39 in ice time and seven power-play goals were career highs. He has hit the 20-goal plateau twice, and a third should be easier as a second-line winger and man-advantage option.

“I have to be better as a player and I think that’s why they signed me,” said Garland. “I try to come back each year better, and I know I have to produce more. I’ve learned most about consistency. When the puck wasn’t going in, or I wasn’t making plays, I became a pretty responsible defensive forward on a shutdown line.

“I’m definitely more versatile.”

Proof of a constant craving to improve and compete came at Stockholm, Sweden and Herning, Denmark in May.

Garland didn’t avoid the ice after a trying NHL season filled with too many injuries, too much drama, not enough scoring as the 23rd-ranked team, and no playoff berth. He joined Team USA, along with teammate Drew O’Connor, for the world championship. It paid off. The country claimed its first gold medal in 92 years.

Garland had 10 points (5-5) in 10 games and easily meshed with linemates Clayton Keller, a former Arizona teammate, and Logan Cooley.

“This year in Vancouver, I was in a leadership role from Day 1, and at worlds I wore a (alternate captain) letter and was part of that leadership group,” said Garland. “I enjoyed being the guy who got the puck and retrieved it for them and let their hind-end talent take over. I learned what it takes to win in a tough tournament like that where a lot has to go right.

“We were a tight-knit group and we did some stuff that I’d like to bring back (to Vancouver) to help bring success.”

It was more preparation for Garland, who will be play a key Canucks’ role next season, now matter how the second line shapes up, which is encouraging on personal and team levels because winning is everything.

However, it hasn’t been all sunshine and roses. There were darker times.

Garland appeared expendable in the fall of 2023. He changed agents and pondered whether a change of scenery would help him, and the salary cap-challenged Canucks, find solutions. His cap hit was $4.95 million for three more seasons, and at the time, that was considerable for a third-line winger.

That’s when the competitive side of Garland took over. Despite a glut of wingers vying for roster positions, he just played and seized every day. It wasn’t easy. He buckled down, and his 20-goal campaign helped drive the Canucks to a Pacific Division title and within a victory of the Western Conference final.

Garland gave an assist to former Canucks head coach Rick Tocchet, and it was a lesson in stick-to-it culture.

“He tried to block out the noise and keep me day to day,” recalled Garland. “Those first six games were pretty tough — especially that first road trip. Any time I was in a tough spot, I could lean on him and guys in the room to understand the situation I was in.”

Any team with aspirations needs good players and good people. Garland will be influential for a return to the playoffs next season, but in the process he knows that hockey is a business.

Garland saw close friend and former linemate Dakota Joshua depart in a July 17 trade to Toronto. And on May 14, Tocchet took the head-coaching position in Philadelphia. He was largely responsible for Garland getting his game together at Arizona as a young and brash winger. Now Adam Foote gets to reap the rewards of his progress.

Foote is a rookie NHL bench boss who excelled as a tough and dutiful defenceman. He logged 1,154 career NHL games, won two Stanley Cup titles, plus Olympic and world championship gold.

“He sees the game from a defensive standpoint, but we’ve talked offence and our rush game and things we’ll look at in the offensive zone,” said Garland. “He’s one of the smartest minds on defence and the penalty kill.

“As a head coach, I don’t know how he’s going to be. He was awesome as an assistant and very demanding. But whenever you had something going on, he was a guy you could talk to. He’s very personable. I’m excited.”

bkuzma@postmedia.com