'I didn't like Höggy, at all' - Canucks' Rick Tocchet calls out Nils Hoglander following loss to Hurricanes

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Cooper Godin
October 29, 2024 (11:34)

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Vancouver Canucks head coach Rick Tocchet called out Nils Hoglander and the team's powerplay following Monday's loss to the Carolina Hurricanes.

It was a tough loss for the Vancouver Canucks on Monday night at Rogers Arena as they fell to the Carolina Hurricanes in overtime, with Sebastian Aho scoring the game-winner.

After the game, Rick Tocchet spoke with reporters and wasn't too happy with how the Canucks started the game, saying that they weren't ready off the hop while Carolina was. The Hurricanes opened the scoring under six minutes in and led Vancouver 2-1 after 20 minutes.

Rick Tocchet calls out forward Nils Hoglander

Tocchet was asked about his his deployment of the lines and shuffling them around during the game. One of those that got split up as the night went on was the trio of Elias Pettersson, Conor Garland and Nils Hoglander and they weren't used much at 5-on-5 in the first two periods.

"We'll obviously when you change it, you don't like it right? So I didn't like a couple of things there. Didn't like Hoggy [Hoglander] at all....listen, I'm not going to pick on that line. I just felt that I wanted to make a couple of changes." Tocchet said.

While it wasn't a good night for Nils Hoglander, he'll bounce back and there's no cause for concern with him. He's had a great start to the 2024-25 season and is potentially in the mix to play at the 4 Nations Faceoff with Sweden. In eight games this season, Hoglander has put up four points (two goals, two assists), four penalty minutes and has an even-rating.

Powerplay not good enough last night

Another area the Vancouver Canucks struggled with last night was on the powerplay. The team went 0-for-3 with the man advantage and Rick Tocchet admitted post-game that he's going to need to make some changes.

"Yeah, we're going to need to make some changes. Not working hard enough. Very lackadaisical and it's a high pressure team. We had the odd time where we had a couple looks, actually the game plan worked when Hughes threw it to the net and we had Millsy [Miller] who almost scored in front. That's the key against this pressure on the powerplay is to be able to make one or two plays and get it to the net. I thought a couple of guys were playing slow. You can't play slow against a high pressure PK, you just can't. So, I think I'm going to make a couple of changes. We'll talk tomorrow." Tocchet said.

The Vancouver Canucks will be back in action tomorrow night against the New Jersey Devils in a battle of the Hughes brothers. Puck drop is set for 7:30 pm PT and can be viewed across the country on Sportsnet One.

POLL
Was Rick Tocchet right to call out Nils Hoglander post-game?
Yes, Hoglander didn't have a good game	181	62.2 %
No, shouldn't have said that to the media	110	37.8 %
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