On yesterday’s episode of Canucks Conversation, David Quadrelli and Harman Dayal welcomed Rinkwide’s Jeff Paterson to discuss Brock Boeser’s return to the lineup, the continued dominance of Kieffer Sherwood and Elias Pettersson’s line, and the struggles of Nils Höglander.
JPat began by highlighting the impressive performance of the Sherwood-Pettersson-DeBrusk line, which has been one of the Canucks’ most consistent offensive units since Sherwood joined them.
“On paper, it doesn’t necessarily look like it should work the way it is,” JPat noted. “I was glad Jake DeBrusk had a breakout night. Without Boeser and Miller, they needed someone to step up the way he did. I was tired of talking about how quiet it had been for him, so it was nice to see him stand his ground with two goals.
“I loved the work Sherwood did on DeBrusk’s second goal—to spin out of the check in the neutral zone, create separation, and slide the puck over to DeBrusk. It all starts with Pettersson. He’s starting to be more of the playmaker we’ve seen him develop into during his time in the NHL. We’re starting to see him attacking off the rush, and teams have to pay attention to him. You know he’s back when other teams are locking in on him. When he’s got time and space, he’ll find the guys around him.”
JPat also praised Sherwood’s evolution into a more complete player.
“What I like about Sherwood is, he hasn’t abandoned what’s made him successful; he’s just elevated the scoring side of his game that we’ve seen at other levels. Another ten-hit night the other night is incredible. I thought at some point he might fall into this trap of, ‘I’m the NHL hit leader, I need to keep this up and chase hits all over the ice.’ But he hasn’t. He’s incorporated offence and smarts. I love how aggressive he is in terms of reading plays and understanding when the hit is there to take.”
The Canucks face a dilemma with Brock Boeser’s return, given the strong chemistry of the top line and the absence of J.T. Miller.
“Tocchet has to find where to put Boeser in the short term because he doesn’t want to touch that line,” JPat explained. “Is Sherwood a lock for the top six the rest of the way? Maybe, if he keeps playing like this. But I think when he finds his level, they may continue to move him around, like Tocchet does.
“The absence of Miller is massive and tough for any coach to figure out. But if you’ve got one line that’s going, you want to keep Garland and Joshua together, and there’s room for Joshua to get back up to speed.
“If you have to ease Boeser back in, so be it. I don’t think he’s going to be a third-line guy for long. He’s missed seven games; I just hope he hasn’t lost his scoring touch. He had six goals in the twelve he’d played before the injury, but head injuries are tricky. We’ve seen plenty of players struggle to bounce back.”
The conversation shifted to Nils Höglander, whose inconsistent play has put him at risk of being a healthy scratch.
“He could be a healthy scratch, and I say that because that always seems to be how it ends up for him,” JPat said. “It would speak volumes if Max Sasson and Arshdeep Bains stay in, and you’re sitting a guy who was a 24-goal scorer a year ago.
“He doesn’t seem to be that player now. I’m not saying he can’t get back to being that guy, but 15 games without a goal, nine without a point, and just eight shots over those nine games—that’s zero impact of any kind. He started the [Ottawa] game on the third line, so it’s not like he was chained to the fourth line, but he played his way down there.
“We know the trust between this coach and player wanes. Right now, it feels like it’s at an all-time low. You wonder where it goes next. Something tells me he’ll stay in and play against Boston, but it feels like the clock is ticking toward a healthy scratch. It’s unfortunate because there’s a better player there than he’s shown, but the NHL isn’t going to wait for you—you’ve got to find your game.”
You can watch the full segment below.
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