I did read your description about the trade happening at the deadline, but unless he's put up a PPG season then I'd imagine you could get Garland for a lot less than a 1st. Right now VAN would likely give him away just for the cap relief.

I will admit that I tend to highly devalue our 1st rounders because we're going to be one of the Cup favorites for at least the next few seasons. Even so, you might be right because the Canucks are in a bit of a cap pickle.

I think that if he has 45 points by the TDL a 1st (28+) would not be an unreasonable return, he after all can play up and down the lineup

I genuinely think the Canes could be the best Garland fit for all parties once January comes around and if the Canucks are still not good this year. With a 22-man roster, we're $2.8M under the cap, and because we have no players on LTIR, that space will accumulate until the trade deadline. By the time late January hits, our team will have more-than-enough space to swallow Garland in at full cap hit with no retention or contracts coming back.

FYI you can simulate deadline cap scaling by selecting the other option on team creation and setting it to ~60 days remaining

They couldn’t give him away this year. Pass at this value

I like the fit for the Canes, but don’t see the point of dealing a 1st for him, even if he has a great season. I’d think the Canes would only be interested at distressed asset prices with hefty retention as well.

They don't need salary retention this trade deadline. They're going to be well under the cap. I suspect that they may take on full cap hits at reduced draft pick prices. The Garland cap hit is not bad at all, either; it's actually less than Teravainen's, who he would replace in this scenario.

No one is going to offer the Canucks a 1st for Garland, retention or not. If they’re intent on trading this year’s 1st, I’d wager they have their sights on something much bigger vs taking on Garland at his full cap hit.

If said player is actually available. They usually are not. I could see the Canes, however, trading a 1st for the forward version of Skjei, whoever that might be.

What if injury or ineffectiveness of a C (injury), or Drury, I would think adding a 5th C, someone like N.Sturm, would be more valuable, unless you're fine w/ Suzuki?