Joined: May 2022
Posts: 409
Likes: 407
Peeke+Roslovic>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Garland.
Garland couldn't be moved for free, so Van bought out OEL. There's no situation where CBJ should be helping Vancouver's cap situation, and losing talented but flawed players in Peeke and Roslovic, while not hand-over-fist winning the trade. Additionally, there's no way you intentionally give up cap flexibility for, at best, a middle 6 winger. This would make it more difficult for us to look at a high end center, (Lindholm, Backlund, Necas and more could be available next offseason if you have the cap-space) and sign KJ and Marchenko to good deals.
I like Garland the player. He draws penalties and does a generally good job of driving positive possession results.
Jack Roslovic is maligned and had a down year, but there isn't a player on CBJ who carried the transition responsibilities as well as him. He generated zone-entries even with Gaudreau but did much more hard work to get it out of the zone. He doesn't have great hockey sense and that makes him waste a lot of the offense he creates. In a more structured offensive zone environment, Roslovic will improve. Still, his ability to take the top end of the defense off and create space for Laine cannot be underestimated.
Furthermore, I'd argue Garland is a worse fit with Babcock than Roslovic, despite his improved compete. Babcock has stated he wants a lefty and righty faceoff person on as many lines as possible so that they can take strong-side faceoffs. CBJ only currently has Roslovic, Danforth and, optimistically, Laine. Garland doesn't contribute in this case and takes a roster spot away from players that could, while getting paid $4 million for 3 years. That fact, combined with the depressed winger market, makes this not a deal worth pursuing.