Canucks trade rumours: Bruins have reportedly checked in on both Sherwood and Garland

Sherwood is in the final year of a two-year deal that carries a $1.5 million cap hit. If the Canucks were to retain on Sherwood’s contract, giving the acquiring team a $750,000 cap hit to work with, they should be able to maximize their return for Sherwood, who turns 31 in March. We wrote about this earlier this week.

What we haven’t written all that much about is another way the Canucks could beef up the return they got on a Sherwood trade — attaching Conor Garland to him.

While Garland’s name was brought up in trade rumours a week or so ago, opinions are mixed on whether the Canucks would consider such a move at this juncture. Garland signed a six-year extension with a more-than-workable annual average value of $6 million this past offseason, but doesn’t have any trade protection until that contract kicks in on July 1st, 2026. That means, in theory, that the Canucks could trade him, but they’d likely need to be blown away by an opposing team’s offer to part ways with Garland.

Could that team be the Boston Bruins?

RG has learned through an NHL source close to the situation that two players Sweeney has recently inquired about are Canucks wingers Kiefer Sherwood and Conor Garland.

“They have 100 percent called on both players,” the source said of the Bruins’ interest in Sherwood and Garland. “They want scoring and believe that with some more, this team can definitely stay in the race and make some noise.”

…As for Garland, this is not the first time that Sweeney has expressed NHL trade interest in the 29-year-old Scituate, MA native. As reported by Boston Hockey Now leading into the 2022 NHL Trade Deadline, the Bruins looked into acquiring Garland, who the Canucks chose to keep for three more seasons and recently signed to a six-year, $36 million ($6M AAV) contract back on July 1. According to the same source, though, as the Bruins were told by the Canucks three years ago, Garland, 29, is not one of the players that Vancouver is looking to trade at this time.

If Boston really is kicking tires on both Sherwood and Garland, it would be interesting to see what the Canucks might want back in return. The Bruins’ top five prospects, according to Daily Faceoff: James Hagens (likely off limits), Fraser Minten, Fabian Lysell, Dans Locmelis, and Dean Letourneau.

How would you like to see the Canucks approach their upcoming decisions? Let us know in the comments section below!

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