Canucks Plays of the Year: The Best Hits of 2023-24

The Vancouver Canucks set a new franchise record in the 2023-24 season with 2,178 total hits.

It’s certainly a franchise record, since the NHL officially began keeping the statistic in 2005. The gritty Canucks teams of the past few decades may have something to say about that franchise record, but we’ll never know for sure.

The 2023-24 Canucks have featured some of the league’s most productive hitters, led by Dakota Joshua, whose 244 hits ranked ninth in the NHL despite missing 19 games. He kept the charts going in the playoffs, finishing third in the postseason in hits with 74 despite the Canucks’ second-round elimination.

JT Miller was second on the Canucks in hits with 217, but the Canucks split the hits. Nine Canucks had 100 or more hits, including Joshua and Miller: Sam Lafferty (192), Noah Juulsen (163), Elias Pettersson (125), Nikita Zadorov (124), Tyler Myers (110), Filip Hronek (104) and Nils Höglander (100).

Teddy Blueger and Phil Di Giuseppe both just missed 100 hits, while Vasily Podkolzin led the way in hit rate, averaging 20.74 hits per 60 minutes of ice time in his 19 games.

So the Canucks had plenty of hitting quantity. But what about the quality?

Luckily, the Canucks also had plenty of impactful, aesthetically pleasing hits this past season, so I decided to round up the top ten hits of the season, along with a few honourable mentions. Without further ado, here’s the top ten list:

Let’s be clear: like the hit statistic itself, this list is completely subjective. These are simply the hits I liked the most. Let’s analyze my reasoning.

10 | Mar 19 vs Sabres – Quinn Hughes over Victor Olofsson

This may not be the hardest hit on the list, but it certainly made an impression on the Canucks crowd. The context is what gets this hit in the top ten: This is Quinn Hughes, who rarely throws a hit, largely because he doesn’t have to. More often than not, when Hughes is on the ice, the puck is on his stick — why would he have to swing?

But Hughes was criticized throughout his career for being too small. When Victor Olofsson came over the edge of the Canucks’ zone and Hughes knocked him on the backside, it was a kind of liberation for him and the fans in the arena.

“It’s just funny, you don’t see that much of me. It was a good feeling,” Hughes said after the game, adding of the crowd, “It was almost like I scored a goal or something, so that was funny.”

“Well, it was a message to the league, don’t go there with Quinn Hughes,” head coach Rick Tocchet joked. “But it’s true! You never know! You never know who’s going to score. Yeah, it was a great hit. He was laughing on the bench, he enjoyed it so much.”

9 | Jan 27 vs Blue Jackets – Noah Juulsen on Adam Fantilli

Letting a guy fly on the bench is a good way to get into a top 10 list. Sure, it would have been better if Noah Juulsen had let Adam Fantilli sit on the Columbus Blue Jackets bench, but you can’t always get what you want.

Juulsen had some of the hardest hits of the season for the Canucks, but there were a few occasions where he got himself out of position to chase down hits, which cost him dearly in the playoffs. https://youtu.be/06IEZFHRdxg?si=B80HjHRIpw-rnFHr

There is no chase in this hit on Fantilli. Juulsen goes for the puck first. In fact, if he had not hit the puck into Fantilli’s skates, this would have been interference for sure.

8 | May 12 vs Oilers – Dakota Joshua over Mattias Ekholm

This was a tag team effort, with Elias Lindholm battling Mattias Ekholm, but it was Dakota Joshua who landed the coup de grace.

There is something special about Ekholm’s stick flying through the air as Ekholm himself crashes to the ice.

7 | Oct 14 vs Oilers – JT Miller over Leon Draisaitl

The best part about this open-ice hit is that Leon Draisaitl is fully prepared for it and even goes for the reverse hit, but JT Miller crushes him anyway.

That’s what elevates this hit above some of the other open-ice hits that made it into the honorable mentions. This is Miller simply overpowering Draisaitl, who is a big, powerful player in his own right.

6 | Jan 20 vs Leafs – Tyler Myers on Calle Jarnkrok

Every now and then Tyler Myers remembers he’s a 7-foot-tall behemoth.

This is one of those moments where Myers benches Calle Jarnkrok for the Canucks, while Nils Höglander gives him a little tug on the jersey to keep him on the bench a little longer.

5 | Feb 29 vs Kings – Noah Juulsen on Alex Laferriere

It’s nice when Noah Juulsen’s devastating checks also turn into good defensive plays. Here, he stopped a Los Angeles Kings breakout in its tracks with a picture-perfect open-ice hit that even the Kings commentators had to admit was as clean as a whistle.

Alex Laferriere is probably still suffering from this blow four months later.

4 | Nov 4 vs Stars – Ian Cole over Matt Duchene

I don’t understand how Matt Duchene didn’t see Ian Cole coming. It doesn’t even occur to him that the defenseman could come and pinch the boards. He just opens up to the middle of the ice and starts skating toward the blue line without even looking in the direction he’s skating.

It’s a perfectly clean hit, too, even if the result is devastating. Cole even leads with his stick, poking the puck away from Duchene before making body contact.

Cole wasn’t the Canucks’ most frequent hitter — his 3.41 hits per 60 minutes was higher than only Hronek and Hughes among Canucks defensemen — but when he did hit the body, it stayed occupied.

3 | April 26 vs. Predators – Nikita Zadorov over Roman Josi

I love everything about this hit. It’s such a well-timed piece by Nikita Zadorov, who reads the piece perfectly, realizes that Roman Josi is outshining Teddy Blueger, and rises to deliver a devastating shoulder-to-shoulder hit.

Zadorov even has cover behind him as he leaves his check, future Canuck Kiefer Sherwood, so he won’t get caught defensively chasing the hit. This hit is basically perfect. But it’s not the Canucks’ best hit of the 2023-24 season.

2 | Oct 11 vs Oilers – Elias Pettersson on Cody Ceci

Play-by-play announcer Harnarayan Singh made no comment on this huge hit and barely reacted at the time, only calling it a “collision” between the two players, as if Elias Pettersson hadn’t completely betrayed Cody Ceci.

It’s even more impressive because it’s Pettersson. Canucks fans know full well that Pettersson likes to throw hits, but it still seems to surprise everyone outside of that fanbase.

Look, is this a charge? Well, yes. Of course it is. Pettersson launched himself like a torpedo into Ceci’s chest. But that’s the point: he hit him in the chest, not the head, and he didn’t launch him dangerously into the boards, he just let him fly into open ice.

It’s a lot easier to celebrate a rule-breaking hit when it’s awesome rather than dangerous.

But there’s another hit that’s even better.

1 | May 12 vs Oilers – Nikita Zadorov on Evander Kane

Yes, that’s it.

Nikita Zadorov and Evander Kane battled each other throughout the second round, but this was the decisive moment: Zadorov threw Kane with a tuchus over a piece of cake onto the Oilers’ bench.

The only thing better than unintentionally changing a player’s line is to hit him all the way through the glass, like Trevor Linden did to Jeff Norton. Unfortunately, no one has done that this season. Maybe they’re making the glass out of harder stuff these days.

As an added bonus, Kane is seen grinning like an idiot, thinking he was awarded a power play, but his smile fades when he learns the Oilers were given a minor penalty to tie the game at 4-on-4.

Unfortunately, Zadorov won’t be throwing big hits for the Canucks anymore, as he’s moving to the Boston Bruins next season.

On the positive side, the Canucks’ free agent signings haven’t been shy about throwing the body. Kiefer Sherwood had 234 hits last season, Vincent Desharnais and Jake DeBrusk both had 100-plus hits, and Derek Forbort had 100+ hits in each of the two seasons prior to last, where injuries limited him to 35 games.

There’s a good chance the Canucks will be back at the top of the NHL in hits next season.

Addition | Nov 24 vs Kraken – Nils Höglander over Brandon Tanev

Sadly missed in my initial search for the best hits of the season, this devastating open-ice hit by Nils Höglander off of Brandon Tanev should definitely be in the top ten. Thanks to u/Lorenzo_ on r/Canucks for reminding me of this huge check.

This punch probably deserves to be in the top 5. Höglander may be small, but it’s an understatement to describe him as small. At 185 pounds, that’s a lot of power and strength in his shorter frame, and Tanev took it all in his stride.