Rollercoaster: the up and down start to Nils Höglander’s career

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The year is 2021, and the Vancouver Canucks are about to start their season. They lost four key free agents after their first playoff appearance in 5 years, but brought in Braden Holtby and Nate Schmidt as replacements.

Expectations were high after a rather successful 2019-20 campaign, and I’d be lying if I said they were even remotely close to being met.

It was an absolutely abysmal season. It was a shortened 56-game campaign due to COVID-19, and they only played against the other six Canadian teams in the NHL.

They finished dead last in their division and 23rd in the entire NHL.

Sometimes it’s hard to find bright spots in a season that went so wrong, but there was one player who won over the hearts of Vancouver Canucks fans, and that player was Nils Höglander.

Höglander tallied 13 goals, 14 assists, for 27 points, and he played in all 56 games.

For a 20-year-old rookie, his stats were rather impressive, but he didn’t swoon fans with his production. His work ethic and high motor made him an instant favourite among fans, and fans were hopeful that he’d continue his great play going into next season.

Unfortunately for Höglander, the dreaded sophomore slump got him, and it wasn’t a pretty 2021-22 season.

The Canucks had a brutal start to the season, but Höglander continued his solid play, even though the team had a record of 8-15-2 after its first 25 games.

After the firings of several coaches and management staff, the Canucks hired Bruce Boudreau as Head Coach, and almost everyone on the team benefited from the change, as the Canucks finished the latter 57 games with a 32-15-10 record.

Key word being “almost.”

Höglander struggled mightily, and his production fell off, only tallying 10 goals and 18 points in 60 games, and would sometimes be a healthy scratch throughout Boudreau’s tenure.

In 2022-23, Höglander’s struggles continued, only getting into 25 games and scoring 9 points, before being sent down to the Abbotsford Canucks in the AHL.

The goal was for the Swedish winger to round out his game and learn the intricacies of the defensive side of hockey, and the organization felt as though he was trending in the right direction.

Höglander tallied 32 points in 45 regular season games with Abbotsford, but it was the start of the AHL Canucks playoff run where Höglander really came to play.

He scored 4 points in 2 games in the first round, leading Abbotsford to their first ever series win. After a rough start to the second round, Höglander tallied two assists in game three, helping Abbotsford keep their season alive.

Höglander is a promising young winger who generates scoring chances with ease. He should be a mainstay on the Vancouver Canucks next season, and fans are excited to see what he can bring.

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