With added winger depth, the Canucks could put together a dangerous scoring fourth line next season.
A fourth line might get around ten minutes of ice time per game at even-strength, giving them a limited window in which they can impact the game.
J.T. Miller, Elias Pettersson, Brock Boeser, and new signing Jake DeBrusk will be in the top-six. It seems safe to assume that Dakota Joshua and Conor Garland will be reunited on a heavily-used third line, likely with Teddy Blueger at centre. The Canucks certainly might hope that Podkolzin, the team’s tenth-overall pick from the 2019 NHL Entry Draft, would take the next step to become a top-six forward. As it is, Podkolzin has yet to fully prove that he even belongs in the NHL.
Next season, Suter’s likely to land on the fourth line simply because the Canucks will need him at centre. The Canucks have enough wingers that they won’t need Suter on the wing and the next best centre on the depth chart is Nils Åman. In Tocchet’s interview with Drance, he name-dropped four wingers who might be the “north-south guy that’s fast as hell” who can play with Miller and Boeser: DeBrusk, Heinen, Sherwood, and Höglander.
446 forwards played at least 250 minutes at 5-on-5 last season. Sherwood’s 2.02 points per 60 minutes of ice time at 5-on-5 was good for 100th among that group, sneaking into the top quarter.In other words, both Sherwood and Sprong scored at a top-six rate while playing in a fourth-line role. More than that, Höglander was third in the NHL in goals per 60 minutes at 5-on-5, just behind Auston Matthews and Zach Hyman. It was his scoring from the fourth line that forced his way further up the lineup last season.
If Höglander and Sprong both end up on the fourth line, they’ll have a 24-goal scorer and a 40+ point scorer at the bottom of their lineup. More importantly, both players have proven that they can produce in that role, not necessarily needing a top-six role to score goals and put up points.
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