VanJack
Registered User
- Jul 11, 2014
- 21,049
- 14,079
If Hoglander has the equivalent of a hockey pulse, he'll be pretty hard to keep out of the Canucks lineup for the coming season. As long he can play some decent defense in his own zone (and from all reports he's diligent in this area) then the worst that happen is that he ends up with spot duty on the third and fourth lines. I mean who, does he have to beat out?
I guess in a normal year, if he couldn't make the opening night roster you'd just send him back to Sweden or to the AHL. But these aren't 'normal times". Hoglander's SHL team was off the ice for two weeks because of a COVID outbreak, and the AHL is speculative at best. And I see all games in the Finnish Liiga have been postponed until Dec 19th because of another COVID surge.
So even if Hoglander's training camp is ordinary, they'd still be best advised to keep him on the taxi squad for eventual duty as the season winds on.
I guess in a normal year, if he couldn't make the opening night roster you'd just send him back to Sweden or to the AHL. But these aren't 'normal times". Hoglander's SHL team was off the ice for two weeks because of a COVID outbreak, and the AHL is speculative at best. And I see all games in the Finnish Liiga have been postponed until Dec 19th because of another COVID surge.
So even if Hoglander's training camp is ordinary, they'd still be best advised to keep him on the taxi squad for eventual duty as the season winds on.