After suffering an injury in the preseason, Nils Höglander appears to be inching closer to making his season debut for the Vancouver Canucks.

Following Thursday’s practice, Head Coach Adam Foote said it’s “probably realistic” to expect Höglander to return next Thursday against the Buffalo Sabres, and gave a big maybe on him returning on Monday against the Detroit Red Wings.

Höglander, 24, is in the first year of his three-year, $9 million extension that pays him $3 million annually. The Swedish winger earned that contract following a breakout 2023-24 season that saw him score a career-high 24 goals – all coming at 5v5 – and 36 points in 80 games. He did so while averaging just 12:06 minutes of ice time.

After the extension, Höglander struggled. He followed that season up with an eight-goal, 25-point 2024-25 campaign. While he did pick up his game over the final month-and-a-half of last season, picking up three goals and 12 points over his final 16 games, it was still viewed as a disappointing year.

Looking to build off that late surge, Höglander suffered an ankle injury in the Canucks’ second preseason game against the Calgary Flames. His ailment required surgery, and he was given an 8-10 week timeline for his return.

Now that we’re at the end of that timeline, and Höglander’s return is on the horizon, what should the Canucks’ lines look like once he returns?

Here is how the Canucks’ lines looked at Thursday’s practice:

Evander Kane missed practice with the flu. So, with him and Höglander inserted in the lineup, Arshdeep Bains and Jonathan Lekkerimäki would likely be the two to draw out.

After missing so much time, we would expect Höglander to ease back into things as he gets his legs back under him. So, here is what fans should likely expect in Höglander’s first game back:

Elias Pettersson and Kane have been stapled together for some time now, so splitting them up doesn’t seem like something Foote wants to do. Brock Boeser and Conor Garland have developed some chemistry lately. Drew O’Connor and Aatu Räty have shown they work well together. This allows the Canucks to ease Höglander in, limiting his minutes before he’s fully ramped up to game speed.

With that said, once Höglander is ready for an increased workload, we would like to see him higher in the Canucks lineup:

When paired with Pettersson at the tail end of last season, Höglander had his best offensive output. The two sparked chemistry. Höglander is impactful on the forecheck, scrappy around the net, and can be that retriever to get the puck to Pettersson. Jake DeBrusk is the third on the line to provide speed and another goal-scoring option.

We like the thought of a Boeser-Sasson-Garland line. We touched on the chemistry Boeser and Garland have developed, and placing Max Sasson and his speed between them will make for a strong offensive line.

Höglander’s return to the Canucks lineup will give Foote an opportunity to move Kane down the lineup and limit his minutes. Fans have grown frustrated with the forward for his questionable penalties and lack of 5v5 goal-scoring despite first-line deployment. Having him paired with the Canucks’ highest hit leaders could bring out the physical side to the power forward’s game.

Do we like seeing Linus Karlsson move down the lineup with how he’s been playing lately? No. But there really aren’t many other options if we want to see Höglander slot in higher in the lineup. Fans might want to see Kane on the fourth line in place of Karlsson; however, he and David Kämpf, one of the team’s better defensive forwards, just don’t seem like a fit.

But we’ll play along and have fun with the last line combinations.

Let’s say Kiefer Sherwood is traded for draft picks by the time Höglander is ready to return, and Lekkerimäki draws back in the lineup. Here’s what we’re thinking:

The triple Swede line. Is it the same calibre as the Daniel Sedin – Henrik Sedin – Mikael Samuelsson triple Swede line? Of course not. However, that would be a fun line to watch in the offensive zone with Höglander’s forechecking, Pettersson’s playmaking and Lekkerimäki’s shot.

We’re switching out Räty for Sasson in this lineup projection. Since the Filip Chytil injury, Räty has probably been the Canucks’ second-best centre – admittedly not a high bar. He projects as more of a defensively minded centre at the NHL level, but why not give him a shot alongside two offensive threats? Give this line a couple of offensive zone starts, with the team’s best faceoff taker in the dot. That would often lead to the line maintaining offensive zone possession, and the team could see whether there’s untapped offence in Räty’s game.

DeBrusk’s game would be most impacted by these combinations. Playing with O’Connor and Kämpf would form a more defensive line, often tasked with facing top competition. The O’Connor, Räty, and DeBrusk line had some of the best underlying numbers at 5v5 earlier this season. So that duo has proven to work well together already this season.

Now, we really don’t see the Canucks demoting Kane to a fourth-line role – especially if they play on trading their upcoming unrestricted free agents. However, with Sasson and Karlsson on the fourth line this season, they’ve been a fairly offensive fourth line as is. And as Kane is primarily an offensive player at this point in his career, the veteran could help the two less experienced players produce against lesser opponents.

There are plenty of options for how the Canucks could do their lines once Höglander returns – if only he could play 2C.

What do you think, Canucks fans? Where would you like to see Höglander slot into the Canucks lineup once he returns? Let us know in the comments below!