Garland’s hat trick the final highlight in a tale of two seasons for Canucks

The Vancouver Canucks did so much winning in the final third of the season under new coach Rick Tocchet that by the time they finished Game 82 on Thursday, the National Hockey League draft lottery was out of their hands.

Taking nothing to chance, the Washington Capitals, Detroit Red Wings and St. Louis Blues all lost — allowing them to finish behind the Canucks in the standings and ahead of them in the lottery odds for Connor Bedard.

The Canucks, of course, already have a Conor. Garland. And Conor Garland scored a hat trick for them Thursday as Vancouver blew a three-goal lead before winning 5-4 in overtime against the Arizona Coyotes, the franchise that is so breathtakingly committed to being awful that they’re playing home games in a rink loaned to them by a school.

Garland isn’t Bedard. But at least the Canucks, by finishing 22nd in the overall standings, still possess the final lottery entry, 11th, allowing them to move up to No. 1 to draft the generationally-talented Bedard if the numbered ping pong balls are expelled in Vancouver’s favour when the NHL conducts its draw on May 8. But these are the Canucks, 0-for-3 in Stanley Cup Finals and 0-forever when it comes to the draft lottery, so who’s kidding whom?

Vancouver could have finished last overall — an impossibility given the putridness of the Anaheim Ducks, Chicago Blackhawks and Columbus Blue Jackets — and still no one on the West Coast would be expecting the Canucks to get Bedard.

But now, they are the longest long-shot to land him after a spectacularly tumultuous season that once again saw the Canucks crash from contention early, enjoy a second-half bounce under a new coach, and leave a fan base wondering if it’s alright to be optimistic about next season.

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Positive numbers

After Tocchet replaced Bruce Boudreau on Jan. 22, the Canucks went 20-12-4 for a .611 winning percentage which equals a 100-point season over 82 games and would just get them into the playoffs. Seven of those wins came in overtime or a shootout. Prior to Thursday’s game, the Canucks offence under Tocchet was 13th (3.26 goals per game), and their team defence 16th (3.14 against), 15 places better than it was under Boudreau.

We’re not making any bold predictions of glory for the Canucks next season, except to say the huge upgrade in defending and systems play, ideals that Tocchet will not waver on, have significantly raised the floor for the Canucks. We don’t know how high or low the ceiling is, but the foundation is stronger and the team can’t possibly be as bad as it showed in the first half of this season when dysfunction between Boudreau and president Jim Rutherford was felt by players and, predictably, manifested itself on the ice when the team started badly.

As for individual achievement, Elias Pettersson’s goal in Arizona capped his season at 102 points. Defenceman Quinn Hughes had three assists to finish with 76 points, 69 of them helpers, in 78 games. And after being vilified for his poor first half, divisive J.T. Miller scored a goal and assist Thursday to finish with 82 points, 32 of them goals. First-year winger Andrei Kuzmenko ended with 39 goals, tied with Pettersson for the team lead.

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Kuzmenko deserved better

With a chance to become just the sixth player to score at least 40 goals in his first NHL season, Kuzmenko skated again with third-line centre Sheldon Dries and, more surprisingly, did not get any first-unit power-play time against the Coyotes.

The new coach has shown Kuzmenko some tough love. But one game after Tocchet moved Miller to Pettersson’s wing to help the Swede crest 100 points, the coach pulled no such strings to boost Kuzmenko. The Russian absolutely needs to continue to work on his 200-foot game and, especially this summer, his conditioning. But it might have provided him with a little more motivation if he saw a carrot instead of a stick in his final game.

Tocchet did allow Kuzmenko to start overtime with Pettersson and Hughes, and he finished the game with a pair of second assists on Garland’s goals, leaving him with 74 points in 81 games in his first season.

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Not a mad hattie

Garland earned his moment in the spotlight. The first hat trick of his career came against the Coyotes organization for which he played five seasons, three of them under Tocchet. His old coach deployed Garland down the Canucks lineup, usually on the third line and second-unit power play. But the 27-year-old never complained and was able to drive his line a lot of nights down the stretch.

He didn’t look for much of the season like a $5-million player, but Garland’s campaign was hardly a disaster. He finished with 17 goals and 46 points despite an average ice time of 15:07 that ranked eighth among Vancouver forwards, and broke even on five-on-five possession metrics across the board.

With Rutherford and general manager Patrik Allvin adamant about finally creating some salary-cap flexibility this summer, Garland (and the three years remaining on his contract) is a candidate to be moved for relief. If this was his final game with the Canucks, it was a helluva way to go out.

And while we’re at it…

Kyle Burroughs deserves a few kind words, too. While depth defencemen Christian Wolanin and Guillaume Brisebois were rewarded with contract extensions not long after their late-winter call-ups from the minors, Burroughs finished the season on an expiring contract and wondering if he’ll be back on his hometown team.

Everyone knows the Canucks need to upgrade their defence, but everyone should understand, too, that some of the traits Burroughs offered are not in great abundance on the team and will be missed. On Monday, for example, Burroughs’ 17:43 of ice time included a pair of assists, a team-leading five hits (in Game 82) and a third-period fight when he challenged six-foot-five, 220-pound Arizona defenceman Josh Brown for kneeing the Canuck’ Nils Aman.

Burroughs is a handy depth defenceman, a good teammate and quality person. If the Canucks don’t want him, someone else will.

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Cheech and gone

Finally, it was fitting that Sportsnet ended its final Canucks broadcast this season with John Shorthouse and Dan Murphy on camera beside John Garrett, the beloved analyst who announced three weeks ago that he would be leaving after 21 seasons working Vancouver games.

Garrett’s sharp observations, folksy style and self-deprecating humour made him a popular figure in Canucks Nation. But it was his “chemistry” with genuine friends Shorthouse and Murphy, the Sportsnet play-by-play voice and broadcast host — all of them enabled and supported by producer Greg Shannon — that made Canucks broadcasts watchable and entertaining no matter what the team did on the ice.

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