Could the Vancouver Canucks Score a ‘Santa Goal’ This Year?

The arrival of Nils Hoglander in the Vancouver Canucks’ training camp this year has fans excited. The Swedish rookie hasn’t looked out of his element with the big club thus far and has seen extended time on the team’s second line with captain Bo Horvat and winger Tanner Pearson.

Whether he actually sticks there is another matter, but right now it sure seems like he might be the best option the Canucks have.

It’s also, thanks to some creative fans on Reddit, opened up the possibility of a “Santa Goal” for the Canucks. That would be a goal in which Hoglander and Horvat score or get the assist, along with an assist (or, in what would be a rare feat, a goal) from newly acquired goaltender Braden Holtby.

Ho, Ho, Ho, indeed.

The idea of it has even encouraged some Reddit commenters to pledge donations to the Canucks Autism Network if such an event occurs.

And honestly, if Horvat and Hoglander play the majority of the season together (not at all a sure thing), Al Murdoch will be saying their names after one another fairly often.

So what about Holtby?

Well, he has only 11 assists in his NHL career. That’s more than one a season for the veteran, though just barely. So I guess we’ll have to just hope his one helper comes with the Canucks’ second-line on (and that it’s still intact at that point).

But yes, the odds on this would be much higher if the Canucks had just signed Mike Hoffman.