Hoglander turns heads in sweet Swedish exit
An abbreviated tracker this week as world junior camps come to a close and the COVID-19 pandemic impacts Vancouver's prospects elsewhere:
NILS HOGLANDER
A wise man once mused that great is the art of beginning, but greater is the art of ending.
That being said, the portrait Hoglander painted in his final stretch of games in Sweden was nothing short of a masterpiece.
The diminutive dynamo ended his Swedish Hockey League loan with some strokes of genius this past week, notching two multipoint games — including a spectacular goal — as the Vancouver Canucks prospect now gears up for training camp with the big club.
The 2019 second-rounder started the week by scoring a goal and adding an assist in a 5-0 win at Lulea on Tuesday. The goal came as Hoglander joined his teammates on a rush up the ice and deposited a rebound past the goaltender to make the score 3-0 in the second period.
The 5-foot-9, 190-pound winger notched a secondary assist on the 5-0 goal in the third period, using his quick feet and even quicker hands to strip the puck from a defender in the neutral zone and start the scoring sequence.
Hoglander finished the game with a goal, an assist, three shots on net and a plus-2 rating in 13:47 of ice time.
Then came Thursday's game and the goal that sent the hockey world abuzz.
With Rogle leading Skelleftea 2-1 midway through the second period, Hoglander entered the zone with speed, threw the puck at the net and didn't stop there. The 19-year-old stole the puck behind the net and turned on the jets, blowing by defenders as he circled in front and dangled the puck between his legs before scoring.
“Artistry” they called it in Sweden, but an artist is never satisfied with their work.
Neither was his head coach, apparently.
“It's probably just an instinct to take it on goal. I have trained a bit on it and fun to try on a match,” Hoglander said in a second intermission interview. “You get a little extra confidence from seeing such a goal, but a goal (is a) goal. We lead the match and that is the most important thing.”
Head coach Cam Abbott was impressed.
“I thought it was a good finish for him, going to the net there, creative, we're kinda used to that with Nils,” Abbott said.
“At the same time there's been a couple turnovers in the neutral zone by the same player that cost us one against. I think it's impressive but he knows there's still a ways to go to be the player he wants to be.”
The wonder kid with the magic mitts also added an assist in the 5-2 win to make it another two-point night, while taking two shots on net and notching a plus-2 rating in 13:14 of ice time.
There were no more points to be had for Hoglander in Saturday's 2-1 win at Oskarshamn, but he did score a couple shots in a fight late in the third period which got him tossed out of the game.
If ever there was a way to ready himself for North American hockey, this was it.
Hoglander had one shot on goal and 25 penalty minutes in 13:04 of ice time in the win for his former first-place team.
The left-shot winger told Swedish newspaper Sportbladet on Fri
day that he hasn't closed the door on returning to Rogle, but that's up for the Canucks to decide.
“If I take a place in Vancouver, I will play there. Otherwise it is up to them if they think it is best that I come back to Rogle. Then I do it and we have had a dialogue about that,” Hoglander said.
“If I do not take a place, there is a good chance that I will go to Rogle and play there, but at the same time if they feel that I am going to the AHL for two weeks to be able to take a place in the NHL, I will accept it.
“It's a bit up to them but I will try to take a place.”
The NHL is targeting a Jan. 3 start to training camps and a Jan. 13 start to the season.
Hoglander had five goals, nine assists and a plus-7 rating in 21 SHL games this season.