The Nashville Predators are trading for forward Nils Hoglander, first reported by Rick Dhaliwal.
Hoglander is in the second year of a three-year contract that pays him $3MM in cap hit for the 2026-27 season, which expires in 2028, when he’ll turn 27. In return, the Canucks received a third-round pick in 2029 originally owned by the Colorado Avalanche.
“We are excited to add Nils to our mix,” MacFarland said via the Predators press release. “He is a 25-year-old experienced winger who is known for his relentless, high-energy style of play, bringing a consistent motor to the lineup night after night. We believe the player can come in and have a key role.”
What Nashville can hope for from Hoglander is what he was in the 2023-24 NHL season, where he scored 24 goals for 36 points in 80 games in his age 23 season. As this past campaign wasn’t friendly for him.
The 25-year-old scored five points in 38 games for the Canucks in 2025-26. He missed a lot of the early season due to an ankle injury, which he suffered during the preseason, and that was the headline for the majority of his year. Hoglander missed 8-10 weeks and didn’t play his first game until December 8th, against the Red Wings. He didn’t see more than 12 minutes of 5-on-5 ice time and was scratched on several occasions.
Throughout the year, Vancouver overall had a difficult time finding any stretch of consistency, but the Predators are hoping Hoglander can put 2025-26 behind him in a new scenery where he can ramp back up to rhythm.
Nashville, along with the signings of Jack Drury and Ross Colton to the forward group, Hoglander’s cap hit puts the Predators at $16.8MM as they add a reliable winger to an already solid left side behind veterans Steven Stamkos and Filip Forsberg, albeit right-handed forwards, but also gives the Preds optionality for Hoglander to fit into their forward group on the left side as well.
More to come.
