Boudreau says Hoglander needs to learn how to play the game
Since being hired by the Vancouver Canucks over a month ago, Bruce Boudreau has done a great job at instilling confidence in a group that appeared lost under Travis Green.
One player who hasn't impressed his new bench boss however, is Nils Hoglander. The highly skilled 21-year-old has struggled to build off of his rookie season, as he has just eight goals and 14 points in 38 games. Speaking with media on Tuesday, Boudreau said that while he can see the elite skill level, the rest of his game needs to improve.
«He's got some scoring potential, but he needs to learn how to play the game, Boudreau said. He's still a young kid, quite frankly, and I don't know, someday he might score 40 goals, but if you're going to hover around the 20-goal mark, you better learn to play both ends of the ice."
«As a guy that played overseas, he's still learning that game. There's a lot of things that he could do better, but his natural talent is definitely there.»
Hoglander, who was selected 40th overall by the Canucks in the 2019 draft, became a household name due to his performance at the 2020 World Juniors. He put up 11 points in that tournament, and scored several highlight reel goals which had many NHL fans excited to see what he could do with the Canucks. Unfortunately, he has struggled to produce at a consistent level, but is still young and has time to figure things out.
| G | A | PTS | ||
| Kyle Connor | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Owen Power | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Michael Bunting | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Drew Helleson | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Peyton Krebs | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Isac Lundestrom | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Vladislav Namestnikov | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Nino Niederreiter | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Gabriel Vilardi | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Jason Zucker | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Leo Carlsson | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Nikolaj Ehlers | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Ross Johnston | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Evgeni Malkin | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Josh Morrissey | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Cole Perfetti | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Bryan Rust | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Mark Scheifele | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Alex Tuch | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Trevor Zegras | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Complete stats | ||||
| STANDINGS 2024-2025 | ||||||
TOP 10 | GP | W | L | OL | PTS | |
Jets | 19 | 16 | 3 | - | 32 | |
Wild | 19 | 13 | 3 | 3 | 29 | |
Hurricanes | 19 | 14 | 5 | - | 28 | |
Devils | 22 | 13 | 7 | 2 | 28 | |
Capitals | 19 | 13 | 5 | 1 | 27 | |
Golden Knights | 20 | 12 | 6 | 2 | 26 | |
Maple Leafs | 20 | 12 | 6 | 2 | 26 | |
Rangers | 18 | 12 | 5 | 1 | 25 | |
Panthers | 20 | 12 | 7 | 1 | 25 | |
Flames | 20 | 11 | 6 | 3 | 25 | |
| Conference | Cumulative | ||||||