Nils Hoglander is giving the Nashville Predators a glimpse of the player who broke out in Vancouver two seasons ago.
The 25-year-old winger hasn’t had much time to settle in with his new team, but he’s already made an impact. After going scoreless in Nashville’s season opener against the Minnesota Wild, Hoglander delivered the game-winning goal against the Dallas Stars, helping the Predators earn their first win of the 2026-27 season and, so far, their only one.
He followed that up with an even louder performance against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Nashville built a 3-0 lead before the game slipped away, but Hoglander still found the net twice and helped the Predators salvage a point in an overtime loss.
That kind of production is exactly what Nashville has been hoping to see from him. Hoglander’s best NHL season came in 2023-24 with the Vancouver Canucks, when he posted career highs with 24 goals and 36 points. Those remain the only times he has cleared the 20-goal mark or reached that point total in his NHL career.
The 2024-25 season was a different story. His scoring dropped off sharply, though Vancouver’s struggles went far beyond one player.
The Canucks as a team underachieved enough that management fired head coach Rick Tocchet at the end of the season. Hoglander’s lone season under Adam Foote was then disrupted by injuries, and he was traded earlier this summer.
Now in Nashville, Hoglander is wasting no time showing what he can do when he’s rolling.