Florida defenceman Jason Garrison has arrived on the scene and is thriving in a shutdown role. (Abelimages/Getty Images)

The challenge to the Florida Panthers scouting staff was issued three years ago.  

Even though the Panthers had selected blue-liner Keaton Ellerby from the Kamloops Blazers with the tenth overall selection in the 2007 NHL entry draft, Florida still was a franchise thin on defensive prospects.

So entering the 2007-08 season, then-general manager Jacques Martin and chief scout Scott Luce appealed to the club's United States-based scouts to unearth a college free-agent defenceman who could help the Panthers down the road.

The Panthers' Minnesota-area scout, Fred Bandel, came through. He informed his bosses that there was a late-bloomer named Jason Garrison patrolling the blue line at the University of Minnesota-Duluth.

Luce and then-assistant GM Joe Nieuwendyk traveled to Duluth to meet with Garrison prior to a game, and they were impressed with the White Rock, B.C., native.

Other clubs were in the mix to sign Garrison -- like the Pittsburgh Penguins and Calgary Flames -- but he chose the Panthers because they gave him the best short-term opportunity to play.

After two seasons of seasoning at the AHL level with the Rochester Americans as well as a strong stint to finish the season with the Panthers last year, the 25-year-old Garrison has arrived on the scene and has played well in a shutdown role with partner Mike Weaver.

Shutdown defender

"He came up with us and played real well for us last season down the stretch in the last 20 games," Panthers coach Peter DeBoer said. "He's got a shutdown-type body. He's a big, wide body.

"He's a strong guy who skates well and can move the puck. He's a good first-pass defenseman and he's got the physical tools to do that. We've kind of pushed him into that role and he's embraced it. He's done a real good job for us."

It is remarkable how far Garrison has come. Throughout his days in the White Rock-area minor system he played all different levels. He was small at "five-foot-six" and considered "the NHL was a far reach." But when he saw his cousin, Elias Godoy, get a hockey scholarship to Umass-Lowell, something inside Garrison clicked.

He increased his work ethic and attained a scholarship, too, like Godoy, who is four years older and now playing in Norway.

It didn't hurt that Garrison experienced a growth spurt and filled out.  

"I started living with my cousin and working out with him in the summer," the six-foot-two, 220-pound Garrison said. "I got serious. I learned from him what you had to physically and mentally to become a better player."

Garrison found a spot with Richmond Sockeyes junior-B team as an 18-year-old and it was there that head coach Ron Johnson moved Garrison from forward to defence.

The shift in position elevated Garrison to the British Columbia Hockey League, the Nanaimo Clippers the following season, and later to the University of Minnesota-Duluth.
It was in Garrison's third season at Duluth that NHL scouts began to take notice of the reliable defenceman.

Now the kid who grew up idolizing Mario Lemieux finds himself in the NHL going up against the opposition's top talent.

"It's a fun role to shutdown the other team's top line," he said. "I look forward to it."