Garland embracing role in Canucks’ leadership core

VANCOUVER — A lot can change for a hockey player in one summer.

Conor Garland’s baby son, Quint, said his first word. And it wasn’t mama or dada or Huggy — after Quint’s godfather and Garland’s Vancouver Canucks teammate, Quinn Hughes.

“It’s our dog’s name,” Garland said Wednesday, smiling after skating with most of his teammates at the University of British Columbia. “He said his first word, crawling on all fours: Bubba. He walked by him one morning and Quint just pointed and said, ‘Bubba.’ That was the best. He said mama once, dada once, but Bubba’s his favourite word. He says it 100 times a day. It was the best summer.”

Bubba-the-Maltipoo probably had a good summer, too, at the Garland home near Boston. But it couldn’t have been as good as Conor’s.

After helping Team USA in May win its first men’s world championship since 1933, Garland, 29, signed a six-year, $36-million extension with the Canucks on July 1, a full year ahead of free agency.

In August, he was invited by USA Hockey to its elite Olympic orientation camp near Detroit, putting Garland in consideration for the first best-on-best Olympic men’s tournament since 2014, next February in Italy.

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“One of the guys was looking around our room saying, ‘How are we going to manage this group? Everyone in here is a first-line player, first-power-play guy,’” Garland said. “I was, like: ‘Nope.’”

Garland is the non-star star, a five-foot-nine play-driver who earned his money with the Canucks from the third line.

With training camp one week away, the Canucks continue to examine options on acquiring centre-ice depth, preferably a middle-six pivot.

The National Hockey League team has no obvious centre to drive a third line behind Elias Pettersson and Filip Chytil. But they sure as heck have a winger in Garland who has proven he can do that.

“It’s an ability I have, and I take all the pride in it,” Garland said. “I can play first line, second line, third line, fourth line, PK, power play. Wherever I go, I feel like I can help the team. Me and Footy (head coach Adam Foote) talked about that in the summer, you know, ‘If I need you there, you’ve got to go there.’ He knows I’ll never complain. I played third line last year and still played 20 minutes some nights. If you play well, the coach wants to get you on the ice. If you play poorly, your time is going to be limited. That’s how I always view it.”

In addition to his new coach, Garland will have new primary linemates wherever he is deployed. His most common partners last season, Pius Suter and Dakota Joshua, are gone. Suter signed with St. Louis in free agency, and Joshua, a close friend of Garland, was traded to Toronto in July to create cap flexibility for the Canucks while general manager Patrik Allvin pursues a centre.

Despite his size and combative style, Garland missed only seven games in his first four seasons as a Canuck while contributing 17-20 goals and 47-52 points each year. His 18:39 average ice time last season was a career high.

Garland has become part of the Canucks’ core, part of an expanded leadership group that Foote has worked all summer to inspire and empower.

“I definitely have to improve and grow into it more,” Garland said of his leadership role. “I think there’s other guys that have natural (leadership), like Fil Hronek and how hard he practises, how hard he plays. He’s a huge leader for us. Derek Forbort, Mysie (Tyler Myers), Demmer (Thatcher Demko), Marcus Pettersson. For me, I think it’s just through my hard work and my love for the game. I hope I can come in every day and make guys happy to be at the rink. I’d love to be that type of leader.

“I was happy to sign the contract because, you know, I wanted to be in Vancouver. I like it here. We have a lot of good pieces, and you want to be … a core piece going forward, and someone who can help enhance the culture. I really love this sport, and I have a real outlook of gratitude on it. I like to kind of share that — how special it is that we do get to do this for a living, and what a great day it is anytime you’re at the rink.”

Garland noted how special it would be to help bring a Stanley Cup to Vancouver. First, of course, the Canucks have to rebound from last season’s debilitating drama and injuries and reclaim a playoff spot.

“You look on paper, I think we have so many good pieces,” Garland said. “Like any team, you know, who isn’t looking to add players and get better? I’m sure we’re the same way. But we also have to have a lot of guys in-house take care of business. We have to have a couple young guys come up and earn a spot, steal a spot. Guys have to have a hunger.

“I got asked a lot in the summer, ‘What do you think of the Canucks?’ We’re going to be hard to play against. Really good goalies and a defence that can win you games.

“The challenge for us is to play to our capabilities. I think we have the best goalies in the league. I think we have one of the best D-corps in the league. (But) I’ve said it a few times: our forwards have to be a lot better, myself included. There’s so many guys that if we can just play a little better for an extended period of time this season, there’s no reason we shouldn’t be a really good team.”