Höglander on what went wrong and the new approach he's taking with Vancouver Canucks
It’s hard to believe that Nils Höglander is still only 24 years old, considering this is his sixth season with the Vancouver Canucks.
“Yeah, time flies,” the Bockträsk, Sweden, native said in an exclusive interview with Daily Hive.
Höglander will likely be the second-youngest forward on the Canucks when the puck drops for opening night, behind only Aatu Räty. However, only five players remain on the Canucks from when the 5-foot-9 winger made his debut as a rookie during the 2020-21 season (Brock Boeser, Elias Pettersson, Quinn Hughes, Thatcher Demko, and Tyler Myers).
He’s also been around long enough to see four different head coaches in charge of the Canucks.
“I mean, it feels like every year I have a new coach,” he said. “It’s hard.”
Höglander will have to prove himself to a new bench boss in Adam Foote, who has seen the talented winger go through some pretty extreme highs and lows.
Höglander was playing in the AHL when Foote first joined the Canucks in January of 2023. He then returned to the NHL lineup in 2023-24, where he led the Canucks with 24 even-strength goals during one of the best seasons in franchise history.
Höglander followed that up last year by scoring only three goals in the Canucks’ first 40 games. That included a 34-game goalless drought, the longest of his NHL career.
The good news for Höglander is that he ended the season on a relatively high note. After the 4 Nations break, he was third on the Canucks with 11 even-strength points in 27 games, trailing only Kiefer Sherwood and Pius Suter.
“My goal now is to finish where I left off last year, so I feel pretty confident with that, and that’s why I wanted to stay on the ice all summer too,” Höglander said. “I was skating way more this offseason.”
That could benefit the Canucks’ 40th overall pick from 2019, who has previously been praised for his solid training camp appearances. However, Höglander ranks about league-average in terms of skating speed, according to NHL Edge data.
Adding an extra step should help, but the real question for the Canucks is, what can Höglander be for the team this season?
Is he destined to be a middle-six forward who can play up and down the lineup? Or, can he finally break out and be the top-six winger that the team thought he’d be after his stellar rookie debut in 2020-21?
Höglander believes he’s learned what it takes to play with the best players on this team, including his good friend, Elias Pettersson.
“Petey is a top player in the league,” he said. “Everyone knows that. And I mean, for my game, I’m not gonna lie, in the past, it feels like I don’t play my style when I play with those guys.”
“If you play with those guys, you want them to have the puck, and I go to the net. It’s about sharing the puck. I still have to be that pretty player, but I also have to win pucks down low and go to the net. So I’ve just gotta learn, even if I play with those guys, I’m still gonna do that and not be too fancy.”
Over the past two seasons, Höglander has had the most success playing with either Pettersson or Conor Garland. With Pettersson and Höglander on the ice, the Canucks have outscored the opposition 35-22 since the beginning of 2023-24 (57.7% expected goals for). When Höglander has been paired with Garland, the Canucks have outscored the opposition 17-9 (58.8% expected goals for).
If Höglander can finally break out as a top-six winger, it would make his new salary, worth $3 million per season, look like a massive steal for the Canucks.