Opening Disclaimer: This article was originally written prior to Conor Garland and Nils Höglander being split up at practice on Tuesday. The first title was “Can Conor Garland and Nils Höglander stick as a duo?” Obviously, that’s a little obsolete now. But given that the main thrust of the article involved whether or not there was a future for these two as an on-ice pair, and given that head coach Rick Tocchet directly said on Tuesday that “I can switch him back in games; it’s not forever,” we think it’s still relevant to talk about.

So, anyway…

Rick Tocchet likes to mix his lines.

That trait, combined with the general roster turnover experienced by the Vancouver Canucks over the 2024 offseason, and a few early injuries, has resulted in the Canucks not having many – or any – consistent forward lines in the early goings of the 2024/25 campaign.

It’s a well-known fact that Tocchet prefers his forward duos over dedicated units of three, anyway, but even that has been a little difficult to come by thus far.

The most consistent forward pairing of 2024/25 has been that of JT Miller and Brock Boeser, much like it was in 2023/24. Miller and Boeser have skated 90:15 of 5-on-5 ice-time together, representing more than 80% of their total time.

The next most consistent forward pairing? It’s Conor Garland and Nils Höglander, coming in at a shared 83:33 of 5-on-5 ice-time.

And, aside from the critiques leveled by Tocchet at Höglander after Tuesday’s effort, that ice-time has been quite successful. The duo share a 61.29% expected goals rate and a 64.06% control of scoring chances, both among the team leads. They’ve also managed to wake up Elias Pettersson, at least a little.

All of which is interesting, to say the least. It’s certainly not a pairing that many folks would have predicted coming into the season.

For one, Garland already had a fairly dedicated on-ice partner in Dakota Joshua. Up until about the opening of training camp, most assumed that the Joshua-Garland duo would ride together once again in 2024/25. But Joshua’s cancer diagnosis changed those plans, at least for the time being. And in the interim, Garland and Höglander have developed chemistry.

But another reason why folks might not have paired these two particular players in their preseason roster mock-ups is their size.

Look, we’re not here to be dismissive by any means. Garland and Höglander are definitely two individuals who play much larger than their size. But the fact remains that the two of them are easily the two smallest players on the team.

Höglander is listed at 5’9”. Garland, meanwhile, is listed somewhat generously at 5’10”. The only other players on the team listed at less than 6’0” are Erik Brännström, Quinn Hughes, and Pius Suter, and even those players seem to visibly have at least an inch or so on the Garland/Höglander duo.

It’s perhaps a reasonable question to ask, then, if the Garland and Höglander duo is one really built to last.

On an individual basis, both players have proven pretty clearly that size will not be a limiting factor for them. They’re not uniquely small by any means. A full 21 forwards in the NHL this year are listed at 5’9” or shorter, and among that number some of the most successful scorers, including Logan Stankoven, Marco Rossi, Cole Caufield, Mats Zuccarello, Jonathan Marchessault, and Brad Marchand (yuck).

But finding two such players playing on the same line? That’s a little trickier.

The 5’8” Cam Atkinson and Conor Sheary both made the Tampa Bay Lightning this year, for example, but have played zero minutes together. Same goes for the 5’8” Cole Caufield and the 5’9” Brendan Gallagher in Montreal.

It seems to be something coaches actively avoid. The 5’8” Bobby Brink in Philadelphia has not been allowed to line up even once with 5’10” rookie Matvei Michkov.

But while two smaller players succeeding on the same line is rare, it is not entirely exceptional. We turn to Minnesota, where so far the forward line of Zuccarello, Rossi, and Kirill Kaprizov have skated about 65% of the season together.

Zuccarello, at 5’8” and 181 pounds, is one of the smallest players in the NHL, period. Rossi isn’t much bigger at 5’9” and 182. But they’ve found enormous success together already, with Zuccarello at eight points in eight games and Rossi at seven.

That they’ve found this success alongside Kaprizov, who doesn’t exactly tip the scales himself at 5’10”, bodes well for not only Garland and Höglander continuing to play together, but perhaps them continuing to play together with Elias Pettersson as their centre. Clearly, Rossi and Zuccarello don’t need a brute to accompany them, either.

Where most folks probably draw the most concern is in the potential for this line to still be together come playoff time, where the going gets rougher. The thinking is that, while a smaller line might be able to thrive in the regular season, that could change in the playoffs, where physicality is greatly increased.

On that front, we have to point only to Garland and Höglander’s playstyle in order to find optimism. Each of them certainly plays a heavier game than the likes of Zuccarello and Rossi, and tend to be the kind of players who play better under physical pressure, not worse. The fact of the matter is that Garland and Höglander are both difficult players to check due to their low centres of gravity. They might get outmuscled the odd time in a one-on-one situation, but most times their size is as much an asset as a detriment.

Both showed as much in the 2024 playoffs at various points.

All of which leads us to believe that, if it’s what Tocchet and Co. decide to go with moving forward (or go back to, that is, following Tuesday’s changes), there’s no reason to believe that Garland and Höglander can’t continue to thrive as on-ice partners.

It may be an atypical arrangement, but then they’re both atypical players.

The best angle on it, too, is that it’s not an arrangement the Canucks are stuck with by any means. Joshua’s return is imminent. If, at any point, the chemistry between Garland and Höglander starts to fade, it’s super easy to just reunite the Garland/Joshua duo and find some other place to put Höglander. (Like a line with Pius Suter and Daniel Sprong, where he just happened to get put at Tuesday’s practice).

It’s another one of the natural benefits to having forward depth. It’s options, and options allow for all possibilities to be explored…even the ones that pair two of the smallest forwards in the NHL.