The first season for Nils Höglander went great! The second, not so much. In his third season, Höglander will look to establish exactly what type of NHL player he will be.
Nils Höglander the Puckhound
Look, we’ve all seen the videos. Yes, he can do a lacrosse goal. No, he hasn’t done it in the NHL yet, and he may never do so. But it also doesn’t matter much, because his game is a whole lot more than that. Regardless of what he can or can’t do with the puck, he needs to establish himself to his new coach.
Höglander broke into the league with a bang, and it started on Day One. Right from his 2020 training camp, he was sprinting to the boards, harassing opponents into giving up the puck, and getting where he needed to be come hell or high water. He earned a spot beside Canucks captain Bo Horvat in that camp, surprising most observers. The common assumption was that he would spend his first season in the AHL or back in Sweden. He would have worked just as hard if he had but Höglander had other ideas.
Höglander’s draft year was spent against men in Rögle BK, and he put up decent numbers. Seven goals and 14 points in 50 games don’t look like much, but that’s an 18-year-old in the SHL. And the SHL isn’t a development league. Everyone agreed he would spend one more season with Rögle before trying his hand across the ocean. That season he scored just 9 times in 41 games, but his abilities shone at the World Junior Championships. His five goals – yes, one was a lacrosse goal – and 11 points in seven games showed what he could do.
He had 23 more SHL games because of the 2020-21 COVID-19 delay and continued to impress. By the time he reached North America, he was ready to push for a full-time role.
Little Big Man
One criticism against Nils Höglander was his size. At just 5’9″ he is hardly an intimidating force. Until you try to take the puck away. Or, for that matter, keep it from him. Or think he won’t force his way to the front of the net. He is annoying in all the best ways, and in that first season, he produced. Even though the expectation was that he’d be great on the third line, he just kept scoring instead.
His 13 goals and 27 points in 56 games were an unexpected bonus – depth scoring the Canucks desperately needed. He spent most of the year with Horvat, Brock Boeser, or Elias Pettersson and was a fine addition to them. He has a very fast stick and is happy to zip in, swipe the puck, and zip out again before anyone knows they’re getting checked. The problem, if you can call it that, was that the team needed scoring through the lineup, not just at the top.
In 2021-22 he was again lined up with Horvat or J.T. Miller and given a good chunk of power-play time. That was never his strength, though, and when new coach Bruce Boudreau came in Höglander’s special teams time dropped. He was having less luck with his shot, and soon enough his 5-on-5 time dropped, too.
His game remained the same, though: get the puck, keep the puck, take it where the opponents don’t want him to be. This time his style only produced 10 goals and 18 points before an injury ended his season at 60 games.
Act Three
His declining ice time is worrying for any Nils Höglander fans out there. There shouldn’t be any question of Boudreau trusting him – his 5-on-5 Corsi was 53% even with an unlucky PDO of 98.7%. He drives play very well. But the coach may be looking for someone in the bottom-six to raise their game. While that’s probably not the best use of Höglander, it might be what’s best for the team.
What changes are coming for the team, no one is really sure. What is certain is that Vancouver desperately needs to revamp the bottom of their lineup, forwards and defence. Given that, who Höglander will end up playing with in 2022-23 is a mystery. Special teams don’t seem to be his thing, and that will hurt his ice time. Even so, we know he can do damage 5-on-5, and that’s where most of the game is played.
His tenacity and his speed would be interesting to see on the penalty kill. He doesn’t have a great wingspan, but he’s smart and closes gaps fast. That may be the option next season’s Canucks go with. Given their miserable results from last season, it’s amazing he wasn’t given a shot there already.
He’s a Keeper
The surgery he got on April 15th shouldn’t keep him out of next season’s training camp, but he may have a little rust when he gets there. After all, one thing the team can’t afford to do is trade away young, fast, cheap players who can score. He isn’t well-known enough to be a big trade piece alone, and he certainly shouldn’t be considered as a throw-in on a bigger deal.
Nils Höglander is exactly the kind of player the Canucks need more of. They may have one coming in William Lockwood, but he’s not here yet. But what we think of him isn’t the important question. With Boudreau behind the bench, Höglander’s ice time dropped as the season progressed. If that’s how he’s going to be used, he may well be most useful as a bargaining chip. But if that’s the case, it’s difficult to imagine such a move will help Vancouver where they need it most.
