Snap Shots: Nils Höglander is a Human Highlight Reel

The World Junior Championship will soon be coming to a close, and the four Canucks prospects that are participating in the tournament have been showcasing their talent in this annual overload of incredible hockey. One Canucks prospect made his mark early on in this tournament and had the sports world buzzing about his elite puck handling skills.

So I’ve decided to dedicate this article to showcasing some Nils Höglander highlights from the SHL or international play.

Here is Nils Höglander’s first professional goal. He scored this as a 17-year-old in the SHL before the Canucks drafted him in the second round of the 2019 NHL Entry Draft. One of the things that Canucks fans will soon see from Höglander is how great his hand-eye coordination is.

Höglander is no stranger to the net. If he’s not behind it trying the lacrosse goal he is typically in front of it looking to have an active stick to put in some dirty goals. Höglander is a shorter player at 5’9″, but he is strong and currently weighs in at about 190 pounds.

Here is a penalty shot goal in overtime from last year. Höglander joined Victor Söderström as the only players under 19 years old to score an overtime penalty shot goal last year in the SHL.

This next clip didn’t register anything on the scoreboard but it is a great example of the puck handling ability from Nils Höglander.

Here’s another example of his great hands in tight.

Here is Nils’ first professional lacrosse goal.

Here’s his second one.

Finally, here are some of his highlights from this year’s World Junior Championship.

A boost of confidence should help Nils when he returns to the SHL. I’ve heard a lot of differing opinions when it comes to Höglander. Some believe he is another year away from playing in North America, but when I spoke with him a couple weeks ago, he did mention that his goal is to get over to North America and play some games in the AHL if that’s where he lands.

Höglander is obviously extremely talented with the puck, but that hasn’t come at the expense of his two-way play.  He spoke about wanting to improve his play away from the puck in the offseason. I’ll be excited if we are able to see Nils at training camp next year. His puck skills are already elite and with an offseason of training that focuses on making the move to North American hockey, we could be seeing him in a Canucks jersey earlier than we thought.