Editors’ note: the following is an excerpt from my article written for the Vancouver Canucks as part of The Botchford Project mentorship program. Thank you so much to everyone who made this opportunity possible!
Jumping into the National Hockey League can sometimes present a wide array of challenges for new players. What Nils Höglander has endured and accomplished with the Vancouver Canucks in 2021 is something else entirely.
Höglander’s career has taken him from his minor hockey days in Malå, Sweden, a small lakeside town of 2,000 known for its ski slopes and fishing, all the way to becoming a core member of the Canucks in his first NHL season. Not only has that journey involved getting accustomed to a new country, a new language and a new group of teammates but doing so in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Lach in the Crease 