The Columbus Blue Jackets are officially deadline buyers.
The club acquired forward Conor Garland from the Vancouver Canucks in the opening minutes of Friday's trade deadline, President of Hockey Operations and General Manager Don Waddell announced just after midnight.
In exchange for Garland, the Blue Jackets are sending a pair of draft picks to the Canucks: a third-round pick in this summer's 2026 NHL Draft, as well as a second-round selection in 2028.
GARLAND TO THE 614!
— Columbus Blue Jackets (@BlueJacketsNHL) March 6, 2026
Weve acquired F Conor Garland from the Vancouver Canucks in exchange for a third-round pick in the 2026 NHL Draft and a 2028 second-round pick.
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CBJ x @OHHeartofitAll pic.twitter.com/hkquOIvWIU
“Conor is a versatile player who brings great energy to the lineup every night and we couldn’t be more excited to welcome he and his family to Columbus,” said Waddell. “He has tremendous character, plays a reliable two-way game and will be an important part of our club now and in the future.”
Garland, a 29-year-old and native of Scituate, Massachusetts, has seven goals and 19 assists for 26 points in 50 games so far this season.
The 5-10, 165lb winger has been a consistently competent scorer in recent years, tallying between 17 and 20 goals and between 27 and 33 assists in each of the last four seasons while missing just seven total games. He's had no fewer than 46 points and no more than 52 in that span.
For his career, Garland has 129 goals and 188 assists for 317 total points in 535 NHL games. Originally a fifth-round pick by Arizona, Garland spent the first three years of his NHL career with the Coyotes before being traded to Vancouver in the summer of 2021.
Garland will be under contract with the Blue Jackets until the end of the 2031-32 season, having signed a six-year extension in the summer of 2025 that goes into effect at the end of this season. The contract is for a total of $36 million, with an average annual value of $6 million.
In addition to his career in the NHL, Garland has also played for Team USA at three IIHF World Championships (2021, 2023, 2025), serving as an alternate captain in 2023 and 2025. He won gold at the 2025 Championships, alongside current Blue Jackets defenseman Zach Werenski.
INSTANT THOUGHTS:
Garland is currently in the midst of one of the longest goal-scoring droughts of his eight-year NHL career, going what would be his final 23 games in Vancouver without a goal. But the Canucks are the worst team in the league by a wide margin and rank 31st in goals — this could be the move that jumpstarts him right back into the 20 goal, 30 assist player that he's proven to be year in, year out.
Sometimes, the quotes from management feel like lip service. That's not the case with Garland, who truly is a character guy who is going to bring a high-intensity, two-way game to Columbus. He was a fan favorite in Vancouver for a reason and he has a potential to quickly become someone the Blue Jackets faithful fall in love with his hard-nosed, strong-effort play.
Where he fits in with this team is hard to say, especially depending on what's going on with Mason Marchment, who left Thursday's win over the Florida Panthers with what the team is calling a lower-body injury. He doesn't seem to be a candidate for the top line, but he's certainly worth more than fourth-line minutes. Pairing him with Sean Monahan on the second line could be a good place to start.
He's undersized, yes, but who cares? This team already has plenty of size and oomph with the likes of Mathieu Olivier, Erik Gudbranson, Dmitri Voronkov Marchment, and more.
When Waddell decided to be a buyer at the deadline, he made clear he wanted scoring help that had term left on their contract. This checks both boxes, and without giving up a player in return. This is a good deal for the Blue Jackets.
