Insider Has Latest On Conor Garland Trade Talks

It's been a bit of a rollercoaster ride of rumors so far this season for Vancouver Canucks forward Conor Garland. 'He will be traded'... 'He won't be'... Garland's head must be spinning, along with that of Canucks fans.

Elliotte Friedman joined the Vancouver insiders on the Donnie & Dhali show today, and gave us the latest lowdown on just what's happening with Garland. 

Is a Conor Garland trade still a possibility?@FriedgeHNIC shared the latest he is hearing around the #Canucks Forward.

Full interview..https://t.co/zlqkGIOnzL pic.twitter.com/UkcmTYQWdX

— Donnie & Dhali (@DonnieandDhali) October 23, 2023

"It's a difficult time to get trades done," said Friedman. "There's just not a lot of cap room right now... So I think a lot of places are stuck. 

"If this was something as easy as 'you take the situation I'm trying to clear, and I'll take the situation you're trying to clear', you could have something like a Garland for (the Washington Capitals' Anthony) Mantha deal done already. But it doesn't work. Mantha makes more money and we know what Vancouver's trying to do to create a little extra cap room.

"So with all of that, it's a difficult match."

Mantha earns $5.7M on the final year of his contract, while Garland's cap hit is $4.95M. Friedman says that Garland's agent is still working hard at it, trying to find potential suitors, but there are certainly problems. 

Another hockey insider, Frank Seravalli, said this weekend that the other real problem on a Garland trade is the term (three years) left on his contract.

So the wheels continue to turn, but nothing doing yet on a Conor Garland deal. 

Photo: Anne-Marie Sorvin-USA TODAY Sports