Snap Shots: A Conversation with Canucks Prospect Nils Höglander
By Faber
4 years agoLast weekend, I spoke with one of the Canucks top prospects from the 2019 draft. Nils Höglander is currently preparing for the World Junior championships that begin on December 26th in the Czech Republic. Höglander has been one of the top scoring U20 players in the Swedish Hockey League and heads to the World Juniors on a five game point streak with his SHL team Rögle BK.
Höglander had the whole hockey world talking earlier this season when he scored what I believe is the best professional hockey goal of 2019. He is able to first pass the puck to himself off the net, dangle around the defender and then make magic happen.
On his lacrosse goal and what he thought about the entire world talking about his goal:
“I did it last year, so I tried it one more time, I was happy that I did it again. I work[ed] on it a little bit and I tried it in a game, I won’t say I’m the best at it but I can do it.” he chuckled.
I asked him what he thought about it being goal of the year in 2019.
“Ya it would be fun if it was the nicest goal” said Höglander.
Höglander loves to score and it looks like he loves to celebrate goals almost as much as he enjoys scoring them. I asked him about his emotional celebrations that Rögle fans have come to see on a regular basis.
“I don’t know what I do after I score a goal. Just after the lacrosse goal I was so happy, so I did something.” he chuckled again.
We started talking a bit about Elias Pettersson and I asked him what he thought about Canucks fans thinking that he should play with Pettersson when he comes over to North America.
“For me, every NHL player is good to play with but Elias is sick. It should be fun to play with him someday.”
One of the things that Höglander has been trying to improve this season is his play away from the puck. His defensive play and his shot were some offseason improvements that he wanted to make and I can confirm that he has been more engaged defensively compared to last season and that has resulted in him earning more trust from his coaches and getting more ice time this season.
Nils Höglander is an avid fisherman and I told him that we have some amazing spots to fish on the west coast when he gets here. I’m a fisherman as well so we laughed when I asked him what he liked most about fishing and he said “Everything I would say, [trying] to catch the big one.”
(For anyone who wants to know, the best catch of Nils life was a 10kg Pike. Not bad.)
We were texting after the conversation and he agreed to not score any goals on Canada at the World Juniors if we as British Columbians can show him some great fishing spots around Vancouver. I’m moving to Vancouver next month as well so hit me up with some spots too!
One of the problems that the Canucks organization has faced over the past few years with their European prospects is their willingness to develop in the AHL. I asked Nils if he had any goals for next season when he comes over to North America. “I will say that I’ll do my best this season and see what happens, it’s hard to make it with Vancouver and in the NHL. So we will see what happens, maybe I’ll play a few games in the AHL.”
I will include the full conversation with Nils at the bottom of this article if you are interested in us chatting about World Juniors, unicycling, meeting any other Canucks prospects, his nickname “Nisa”, downhill skiing and much more.
The World Junior Championships kick off on December 26th at 6am pacific time on TSN. Nils Höglander and team Sweden will play at 10am pacific time against Finland on opening day of the tournament. Set your PVRs because Canada and USA will also play at 10am that day.
Here are the links to the interview with Nils Höglander.
You can also yell at your Amazon Echo or Google Home and tell them to play “Canucks Conversation Podcast’s newest episode”.
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