On Tuesday morning, Sportsnet shared some sad news, announcing the sudden passing of longtime player and broadcaster John Garrett. He was 74.

Originally from Trenton, Ontario, Garrett was a goalie by trade and had a remarkable playing career. He played his junior hockey in the old Ontario Hockey Association with the Peterborough Petes and was drafted by the St. Louis Blues in the 1971 NHL Draft. After a couple years in the minors, the World Hockey Association launched and it gave Garrett a chance to play high-level professional hockey.

Garrett became a mainstay of the WHA, playing with the Minnesota Fighting Saints (1973-76), Toronto Toros (1975-76), Birmingham Bulls (1976-78) and New England Whalers (1978-79), racking up 323 appearances in that circuit. When the WHA’s four surviving teams merged into the NHL in 1979, Garrett came with them as the starting netminder for the renamed Hartford Whalers. He played with the Whalers (1979-82), Quebec Nordiques (1981-83) and Vancouver Canucks (1982-85) before retiring with 207 NHL games under his belt.

A very personable fellow with the gift of the gab, Garrett went into broadcasting after hanging up his pads. He was initially a mainstay on Calgary Flames local broadcasts, working alongside Ed Whalen and Grant Pollock for several years on the old 2&7 – now Global – television broadcasts. He also worked on early Rogers Sportsnet broadcasts with Roger Millions and Peter Loubardias. He’s arguably best known for his time broadcasting Canucks games, and he and John Shorthouse were fixtures on their television broadcasts for many years. He retired from regional Canucks broadcasts at the end of the 2022-23 season, but had worked Flames games regularly in recent years as part of a colour commentary rotation for games Kelly Hrudey was unavailable to work due to his Hockey Night in Canada commitments. He called several games with Jon Abbott over the past couple seasons, and most recently was working the Vegas/Utah playoff series alongside Harnarayan Singh.

A someone who grew up in Calgary watching local games and now works in media, it’s been a little surreal getting to meet and know some of the people I grew up watching. Based on my interactions with Garrett over the years, he was everything you would hope he would be. As fun and enjoyable to be around as he seemed on the broadcasts, he was even better in-person.

Our thoughts go out to his family, friends and colleagues who undoubtedly will miss him a ton.