{"id":442051,"date":"2026-01-30T02:03:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-30T02:03:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/442051\/"},"modified":"2026-01-30T02:03:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-30T02:03:09","slug":"could-the-canucks-and-wild-strike-a-deal-for-conor-garland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/442051\/","title":{"rendered":"Could the Canucks and Wild strike a deal for Conor Garland?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Business between the Vancouver Canucks<\/a> and Minnesota Wild couldn\u2019t be in a better place after the two struck the biggest deal of the season in December. With that in mind, could the two sides come together on another deal in the same season?<\/p>\n

\u201cConor Garland\u2019s stats, not great since Quinn Hughes \u2013 his good friend \u2013 left. But teams are still calling on Conor Garland. The Canucks don\u2019t really want to move him, folks, but they are listening. Would not be surprised if the Minnesota Wild like Garland. The only problem with that is they might have issues absorbing Garland\u2019s new contract.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would cost a lot. Canucks are not doing a Garland trade unless it\u2019s an offer you can\u2019t refuse.\u201d<\/p>\n

While this isn\u2019t exactly a full-fledged report, it did get us thinking: would Garland be a fit for the Minnesota Wild? And what might a trade end up looking like?<\/p>\n

Looking into the Wild\u2019s depth chart, the right side of their forward group is fairly accounted for with Mats Zuccarello, Matt Boldy, and Vladimir Tarasenko as their top-nine right wingers.<\/p>\n

Up front, Minnesota currently have a full bill of health; here is how the Wild\u2019s forward group looks right now:<\/p>\n

Kaprizov \u2013 Hartman \u2013 Zuccarello
Johansson \u2013 Eriksson Ek \u2013 Boldy
Foligno \u2013 Yurov \u2013 Tarasenko
Trenin \u2013 Sturm \u2013 Hinostroza<\/p>\n

The clear, glaring need for Minnesota is down the middle. Specifically, a top-line centre to play between Zuccarello and Kirill Kaprizov. And those are rare to find and expensive to acquire. Does it really make sense for the Wild to part with top assets that they would need to go out and acquire that top-line centre for another right-winger, who they don\u2019t even have room for in their lineup?<\/p>\n

But even if they wanted to, it begs the question: what top assets do the Wild even have anymore?<\/p>\n

Back in their December blockbuster, the Wild unloaded the clip on their most valuable assets, sending Zeev Buium, Marco Rossi, Liam \u00d6hgren,<\/a> and a 2026 first-round pick in exchange for Quinn Hughes. Those are four premium assets: a star-potential rookie defenceman, their top-line centre at the time, a former first-round pick, and a future first-round pick.<\/p>\n

So, with four of their top trade chips no longer in their arsenal, what other assets do the Wild have left in the system that the Canucks would have interest in?<\/p>\n

Prospects<\/p>\n

The cupboards are still fairly intact in terms of the Wild\u2019s forward prospects.<\/p>\n

Riley Heidt and Hunter Haight are former second-round picks who are playing in the American League this season, with the latter appearing in five NHL games this season. Charlie Stramel and Ryder Ritchie are having scoring success in the NCAA this season. Stramel is tied for 11th in NCAA scoring with 13 goals and 30 points. And in Ritchie\u2019s first NCAA season, he has four goals and 13 points in 25 games with Boston University. Recent fourth-round pick Adam Benak is having a strong OHL campaign with 21 goals and 53 points with 2026 top prospect and Abbotsford Canucks Head Coach Manny Malhotra\u2019s son, Caleb Malhotra, and the Brantford Bulldogs.<\/p>\n

One piece the Wild have reportedly been dangling as a potential trade chip for a significant asset is 23-year-old netminder Jesper Wallstedt. However, goaltending just isn\u2019t a position the Canucks would target given their current organizational depth and competitive timeline.<\/p>\n

Picks<\/p>\n

The Wild are without their first or second-round picks in 2026, but hold their selections in rounds three through seven, including an additional fifth (San Jose).<\/p>\n

In 2027, Minnesota still has its first, but traded its second-round pick in the David Jiricek trade with the Columbus Blue Jackets last season. They retain all of their picks through rounds three to seven.<\/p>\n

Would it be nice to reunite Conor Garland with Quinn Hughes in Minnesota? Probably. But quite honestly, it doesn\u2019t appear to be a fit.<\/p>\n

The Wild currently don\u2019t have room for Garland to play his preferred position in the top nine. And even if they did, would the Wild be willing to offer the Canucks something they couldn\u2019t refuse in order to pry a Garland off their hands? That offer likely includes their 2027 first-round pick and another B-level asset, like a Charlie Stramel.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s an interesting question to ponder, but Garland doesn\u2019t seem like a player the Wild would ever get serious about targeting at this juncture.<\/p>\n

PRESENTED BY VIVID SEATS\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Business between the Vancouver Canucks and Minnesota Wild couldn\u2019t be in a better place after the two struck…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":442052,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[433],"tags":[49,48,448,82],"class_list":["post-442051","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/442051","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=442051"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/442051\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/442052"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=442051"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=442051"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=442051"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}