Is history doomed to repeat itself for Vancouver Canucks with Nils Höglander?
The trauma of being a Vancouver Canucks fan is real.
Just this season, Canucks fans have watched their former players tear it up in other markets, from Bo Horvat making Team Canada at the Olympics to Quinn Hughes continuing to rewrite the record books with the Minnesota Wild.
The same has been true for Vasily Podkolzin with the Edmonton Oilers.
After being traded away by the Canucks in exchange for a fourth-round pick back in 2024, the Russian winger has gone on to cement himself as a physical, reliable, everyday winger for the Oilers.
Podkolzin currently has 30 points in 67 games. The only Edmonton forwards with more are Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, and Zach Hyman.
The Canucks have struggled mightily to develop young players into consistent, useful NHL players, which is exactly what happened with Podkolzin.
It does make you wonder, is history doomed to repeat itself with Nils Höglander, the Canucks’ second selection in the 2019 NHL Draft after Podkolzin?
It’s been a hellacious season for the Swedish winger, after a preseason ankle injury forced him out of the lineup until December. He clearly was behind the NHL pace for a while after his return. On the season, he has just one goal and three points in 25 games.
Although his offence has dissipated, he’s created more chances than any other Canucks forward of late. During the Canucks last 10 games, he leads the team in scoring chances per-60 at five-on-five.
Despite looking like one of the better forwards on this moribund team in this latest stretch, he can’t find a way to stay in the lineup. Now, Höglander will be scratched for a second straight game on Saturday against the Seattle Kraken.
The 5-foot-9 forward has endured tough seasons before, but this one might take the cake.
“It was tough to come back from that surgery…came back, was scratched,” he said last week. “Came back again, then the [Olympic] break. Then I got injured again.”
“Now I’m coming back with my speed and grit. So yeah, right direction.”
It looked like he was trending in the right direction before his trip back to the press box.
Based on the fact that Höglander has failed to earn the trust of four head coaches in Vancouver, it’s fair to wonder if he might meet a similar fate as Podkolzin.
Because, of course, there was a time when Podkolzin also wasn’t trusted by the Canucks coaching staff.
“They called me in for a meeting, and told me for several reasons, right now, you’re not at the NHL player level,” Podkolzin said last year on a podcast, translated from Russian to English.
“They told me your work ethic is definitely the best, you’re in the best shape of anyone. They were like, ‘Your hockey IQ isn’t at the NHL level, you’re making the wrong decisions out there.’ That line really stuck with me.”
Vancouver clearly made a mistake by trading Podkolzin for pennies on the dollar to Edmonton, a mistake amplified by the fact that they used that same fourth-rounder to acquire Evander Kane.
Ironically, Kane is now blocking Höglander’s path to the lineup.
There’s been no direction that the Canucks want to trade Höglander. However, another coach making him ride the bench, coupled with the fact that the team is listening on everybody outside of a select few players, makes you wonder if it’s possible.
Dealing Höglander may not be as straightforward for the Canucks, since he now makes $3 million per season. Still, you’d have to imagine there are NHL teams that may be willing to take a flier on him if the Canucks no longer believe in the player.
Of course, if that were to happen, it would be easy to see Höglander having a Podkolzin-like ascension.