Vancouver Canucks prospect Nils Höglander scores again and we have an update on his 2020/21 NHL/AHL season

It’s been another great week for one of the Canucks’ top prospects Nils Höglander.

Höglander played in two preseason games this week and scored in both games. He began with a powerplay goal on Wednesday where he walked in a fired a wrist shot over the goaltender’s shoulder and with it, had his first of the preseason.

This game was hard to find and I was not able to watch the stream. I did speak with a source that watched and he said that Höglander has plenty of time on the powerplay while also being given a good amount of ice time at 5-on-5.

The line for him looks to include 19-year-old Melker Eriksson on the right-wing and 27-year-old SHL veteran Anton Bengtsson playing centre. This is a much different line than last year for Höglander. He was saddled with NHL prospect Dominik Bokk and Simon Ryfors for a majority of the 2019-20 season.

New linemates should create a new dynamic for Höglander and should get him more ice time, though he did begin to see some games with more time late in the season.

I was able to take in all of Höglander’s game on Friday morning. Höglander had another great game for his SHL team. He was able to score the first goal of the game just 10:31 into the first period.

He would later add a primary assist on a goal that broke the 2-2 tie and gave his team the lead late in the third period.

All in all, this was a great performance from Höglander, it’s always great to get on the scoresheet with a goal and an assist. Anyone can look at the stats, but there are things that Höglander does on every shift that seems to impress me and make me believe that he is continuing to take big strides towards being an impact player at the NHL level.

The two things that really stuck out to me was his ability to control the puck on the powerplay and his ability to retrieve pucks on the forecheck.

I’ll first bring up exhibit A. This is a powerplay shift for Nils Höglander where he looks like the driving force on the second powerplay unit. He is able to find space, create space and also get the puck to his teammates in space all in one shift.

He is able to use his speed down the wing to gain the zone twice in one shift and makes some nifty passes through the zone to find open teammates.

His powerplay skill shines in every game and his team should be smart to keep him on the powerplay unit if not move him up to the first group at some point this season.

The little things that you notice from Höglander are so obvious when you focus in on him during a game. He is strong on the forecheck as you’ll see in this next clip. He gets leverage on the opposition so often from being the lower man in board battles and has a tremendous ability to get possession of the puck in these 50-50 battles.

Here’s another example of his work on the forecheck. His feet never stop and you love to see this kind of effort level in a preseason game from the 19-year-old.

Though he doesn’t come out with the puck on this occasion, he is so active with his stick and body at a time where he is just finishing up a shift that was just under a minute long. Canucks fans are going to love this kid’s motor.

He checked almost all the boxes for me today.

The one thing I didn’t like was how he floats at times in the defensive zone. When he gets involved in a defensive zone board battle he is excellent at gaining possession for his team — but if he is not engaged in board battles he does sometimes float around the top of the ice a little bit too much and that opens up some good shooting lanes for the opposing team.

During the opposition’s second goal, Höglander was late in a shift and got caught flat-footed when an opponent came right into the slot and fired a shot past his goaltender. This will likely be something that coaches will pick up on and speak with Höglander as it wasn’t a one-time thing but they did get burned with a goal so more focus will be drawn to the problem.

It was a great week for Höglander and he will continue to impress us from overseas as the season goes on. Höglander is currently on a two-month loan with Rögle BK that expires just past the midway point of December 2020.

I spoke with Höglander’s camp on Wednesday and they said that all signs are good with Höglander’s offseason progression. He is feeling strong and ready to get started with his SHL team. The SHL season begins on September 19th.

Höglander and his camp have not made a decision on a timeline for coming over to North America as too much is up in the air right now with the unknown start time for the 2020-21 NHL and AHL seasons. We could see him as soon Christmas 2020 but another loan may be given if that seems to be the best path of development for Höglander.

We will keep you updated on all the #HogWatch2020 news as the season progresses.