Tocchet details how his relationship with Garland began
Conor Garland has been a fixture in the Vancouver Canucks' middle-six for the better part of three seasons, scoring at least 40 points in all three of his seasons in British Columbia. Interestingly, Canucks' coach Rick Tocchet was already familiar with Garland before, having coached the forward during his tenure with the Arizona Coyotes.
Garland, who averaged a career-high of 17:55 of ice time per game in 2019-20 (his final season in Arizona), has seen his average ice time decrease to 14:24 this season. With Garland making the most of his ice time this season, Tocchet recounted the conservation he had with the Massachusetts native during their time together in the desert.
Tocchet had told Garland that he did not see him as a 17-minute per game type of player, to which Garland promptly stated:
You'd better make me one.
Despite playing under that benchmark with the Canucks, Garland has indeed proved that he is a productive player among the team's deep forward group and has seemingly won over the trust of coach Tocchet. He has 41 points in 77 games this season, after scoring 46 in 2022-23.
| POLL | ||
Do you think Garland deserves 17 minutes of ice time per game? | ||
| Yes | 1230 | 94.8 % |
| No | 67 | 5.2 % |
| List of polls | ||
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