Hoglander has done enough work in the AHL to earn another look
We're looking back at the 2022-23 Vancouver Canucks with a focus today on Nils Hoglander. In the coming weeks, we will break down the season and take a look at how player situations project going into 2023-24.
Nils Hoglander
Age: 22
Position: Right wing
Career stats: GP: 141; G: 26; A: 28; Pts: 54
Contract status: Restricted free agent. Three-year, US$3.375-million contract signed April 29, 2020 has expired. Needs another professional season to have arbitration rights.
Nils Hoglander has already travelled a rocky NHL road and his career could have hit the ditch.
From a solid rookie season with the Vancouver Canucks as a creative Swedish sensation, to sophomore struggles and a groin injury in late March, and then failing to find his game and confidence this season, his demotion to the AHL in late December could have been demoralizing.
So, what do we make of him now? How about back to the future?
Instead of sulking, Hoglander sucked up the reassignment. He got his confidence and game back in Abbotsford by listening, learning and executing. He turned just three goals and six assists in 25 NHL games into more push, bite and production in the AHL.
Finishing the regular season with 32 points (14-18) in 45 games, and then having a significant playoff presence with six points (3-3) in six strong outings, drew Canucks management praise and plaudits from Abbotsford head coach Jeremy Colliton.
It's not put Hoglander back on the road to returning to the NHL, but it's hard to imagine he won't make the most of it, especially once the parent club further reduces a glut of wingers.
“It's always a shock to the system,” Colliton said of Hoglander's demotion. “He has played a lot of NHL games without playing in the AHL, so that was an adjustment. But to his credit, I thought he really dug in and was willing to take feedback.
“His play in the playoffs was a really big step for him. Just how hard he played and that game will transfer to the NHL, in my opinion.”
Hoglander is no quote machine and prefers to let his game do the talking. Right now, it's screaming “Look at me.” And that's really no surprise because you don't equate him with quit.
It was that way when the rookie was aligned with Bo Horvat and Tanner Pearson on the first day of camp. It lit the fuse to produce 13 goals and 27 points in 56 games of the shortened season. And what the organization had always heard about the potential of its second-round pick in the 2019 draft at Rogers Arena was coming to fruition. After all, his claim to hockey fame was lacrosse-style goals more suited to a midway sideshow than something that would help stake his NHL roster claim.
How 2022-23 went: Former Canucks bench boss Bruce Boudreau didn't know what to make of Hoglander.
The winger was a healthy scratch on five occasions by late November, and putting the Swede with J.T. Miller and Bo Horvat was more a short-term curiosity than a longterm fix.
Boudreau believed Hoglander was assigned to Abbotsford for the right reasons.
“He's a good player,” said Boudreau. “He's just got to have more puck touches and doesn't handle the puck enough when he's up here. When he does, he seems to lose it.
“If he can learn that composure thing, and keep all his other good habits together, it will be a good thing.”
Boudreau sounded like a prophet and judging by what Colliton saw in the following months — even with the feistiness and occasional lack of discipline — spoke of the fight to get back to the NHL.
“I'd rather have a player like that and pull the reins, than trying to have to dial him up,” said Colliton. “You can win with guys like that.” So what did Hoglander learn? “Managing the game and understanding certain situations where you can attack or create off the rush or make something happen,” added Colliton. “And he did a good job of understanding his responsibilities away from the puck.” How the future looks: Vitali Kravtsov has bolted to the KHL and Conor Garland or Brock Boeser might be sacrificed to create cap space.
Those developments will only help Hoglander carve out a niche on a roster with an abundance of wingers. He will need a strong training camp and pre-season to convince head coach Rick Tocchet that a five-foot-nine, 185-pound winger can measure up in a plan to get bigger and grittier. And if Garland remains, can you have two small wingers in today's NHL?
Hoglander could start in the bottom-six mix. If a veteran winger is traded, he could re-establish his game in a third-line role with Anthony Beauvillier and centre to be named. That would push Vasily Podkolzin to the fourth line and a battle with Phil Di Giuseppe to align with Nils Aman and Dakota Joshua.
Greatest strengths: Can frustrate, create, finish. Plays with an edge that Tocchet will like.
Greatest weakness: Bad puck decisions, long shifts, bad penalties. Is he trade bait? Up to him. Still young and teases of greater potential. Needs a long NHL look.
The big question: Is he capable of staying on the Canucks' roster, scoring 20 goals?