Welcome Matt: Waiver eligibility will add new layer of intrigue for Höglander and Canucks

Nils Höglander has a new two-year contract at NHL money, and now we’ll see if he’s an NHL player.

Certainly thought so two years ago when he took Canucks training camp by storm and made the club as a 19-year-old. But the past two campaigns have been difficult as the Swedish winger backslid into the AHL to work on his defensive game.

He ended last season with Abbotsford, with six points in six playoff games and 32 points in 45 regular season games.

This season, on a deal that will pay him $1.1 million, the Canucks need Höglander or fellow 2019 draftee Vasily Podkolzin to step up and be a no-doubter in the NHL lineup.

Podkolzin ended last year up with Vancouver, but he too spent time on the farm after an in-season demotion. That was partly due to Höglander’s waiver eligibility. Once he plays two more NHL games, he’d need to clear waivers to be sent down.

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In other words, the next time Höglander plays an NHL game, he’s got to stick as an NHL player. So it’s much easier for the Canucks to keep him in Abbotsford until they deem him ready.

And that means he needs to be better defensively. Separate Canucks coaching staffs have now deemed him not good enough on that side of the puck, and that’s been the problem for other Canucks wingers as well.

We know Höglander can be a scrappy, tenacious player with some offensive skill. If he can be a trustworthy defender, then the Canucks should once again have a promising young winger that you can project on the depth chart for years to come.