"I learned a lot": Feisty Höglander gunning for spot on Canucks top line
Nils Höglander was more talkative and seemed more comfortable speaking to the media after Day 1 of the Vancouver Canucks’ training camp. Perhaps that comes from the 22-year-old Swedish winger being in his fourth year in North America.
But maybe the fact he had a great first day of training camp was part of it, too.
Höglander started on the Canucks’ first line here in Victoria, playing alongside his good friend Elias Pettersson and Andrei Kuzmenko. He couldn’t have asked for a better spot to be put in.
Head coach Rick Tocchet warned the media not to read too much into his lines, but he did speak about Pettersson and Kuzmenko staying together as a pair. And Tocchet seemed impressed with Höglander, who is a player that he didn’t get a chance to coach last season.
“I think it’s important that you get chemistry. I want certain guys to be with certain guys, try to stay with pairs… and then you can rotate guys in,” Tocchet said Thursday at the Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre. “Höglander, I thought he was really good today. He was really feisty out there, and fast.”
Asked what his goal was this season, Höglander had a simple answer.
“I really want to make the team this year, that’s what my goal is,” Höglander said.
The fact that Höglander now needs waivers to be sent to the minors will help in that regard, but so will a good showing in preseason.
Höglander has so far been unable to improve upon his impressive rookie season when he burst onto the scene with 27 points (13-14-27) in 56 games. The 5-foot-9 forward had 18 points (10-8-18) in 60 games during his sophomore year and was demoted to the AHL last year, playing most of the season with the Abbotsford Canucks.
“I learned a lot last year, especially in the playoffs. I got tougher, I played a lot, played in different roles all over the ice,” said Höglander, who added that he also learned a lot about “puck management.”
#Canucks’ Höglander on his friendship with Pettersson: “We’re really good friends, we talk every day. I stay at his house now during the camp.”
— Rob Williams (@RobTheHockeyGuy) September 21, 2023
Höglander said he kept in touch with Pettersson last season, even after he was demoted, which helped him.
“We’re really good friends, so we talk every day,” Höglander said of his friendship with Pettersson. “I stay in his house now during the camp and the beginning of the season. So we’re really good friends, and we talk a lot.”
While Höglander has skill, it’s his energy and puck pursuit that will likely help him keep a spot with Pettersson and Kuzmenko.
“I always try to do my best to give them the puck.”
He adds that being put into a position to succeed has given him “a lot of confidence.”
“Of course I want to show them I can play there and win some pucks. [They’re] two really good players, so I’ll just play my style and try to forecheck and play hard and win a lot of puck battles… I like to play that [aggressive] style too, win pucks and be first on those pucks.
“Play a little bit greasy.”
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