The Columbus Blue Jackets were linked to Vancouver Canucks forward Conor Garland by Elliotte Friedman on Hockey Night in Canada. Although on paper it would seem to make sense, as Vancouver is looking for a defenseman in return and the Blue Jackets need to move one; it would only create more problems. The Blue Jackets also have too many forwards on the brink of making the NHL and despite Garland being a solid middle-six winger, his contract and the lack of roster space make him unnecessary.
Prospects Need Room to Grow
The Blue Jackets have already sent players like Dmitri Voronkov and Trey Fix-Wolansky to the Cleveland Monsters of the American Hockey League. Once Jordan Dumais is healthy, he’ll likely be heading back to the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League as well. These are players who should be competing for roster spots either this season or in the very near future. Fix-Wolansky for example doesn’t have the highest ceiling, but he could be a very good bottom-six forward at the NHL level. Dumais will likely fit into the already crowded top-six forward group when he’s finally given an NHL opportunity in the future and Voronkov has a tight deadline regarding when he gets called up.
The main reason the conversation started about the Blue Jackets trading a defenseman was due to David Jiricek getting recalled and impressing immediately. There had been talk about it previously, but now it seems to have taken on more life. A big reason for the log jam on defense is a result of trading for veterans, as they acquired Erik Gudbranson as a free agent last offseason and then traded for Damon Severson and Ivan Provorov this summer. While the moves mostly improved the team’s defense, they created a major problem for the long-term development of NHL-ready prospects.
Trading One Problem for Another
Trading Adam Boqvist, Andrew Peeke, or any other defenseman in exchange for Garland would give the Blue Jackets a little bit of relief on defense, but it would increase the logjam they have up front. When Mathieu Olivier got activated from the injured reserve, it forced them to waive Eric Robinson. They’ll run into a similar issue when Yegor Chinakhov is healthy as well unless they plan on sending him down to the Monsters.
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The only way it would make sense in that regard would be if the Blue Jackets also sent a forward to Vancouver. Considering the Canucks are looking to shed cap space though, it’s something that they likely wouldn’t be interested in. Trading a defenseman alone, namely Boqvist or Peeke, would give the Blue Jackets nearly enough cap space to fit Garland into the mix but the fact that he has three years remaining on the deal is a little concerning. Of course, the cap will be going up next season, but Columbus will have to sign Kent Johnson, Kirill Marchenko, Cole Sillinger, Jake Bean, and others to new deals. All of the mentioned players will likely demand a pay raise, although some will be more significant than others.
If Garland is acquired by the Blue Jackets, there would likely have to be a follow-up move fairly quickly. The most logical option would be Jack Roslovic, as his contract is fairly close to Garland’s in terms of cap hit, but he only has a single year remaining. His inconsistency has made him expendable, and the team’s newly found center depth makes his ability to play down the middle much less important than it had been previously.
Garland is a very good middle-six forward and if this season was in a bubble, he’d be a strong addition to the organization. With that being said, bringing him into the mix would increase the log jam that the Blue Jackets already have in their forward core. It’s a good problem to have, but adding to it when there are quite a few prospects that will be ready to make the jump to the NHL in the next couple of seasons would lead to long-term issues.
