Leo’s Hockey Report: Kiefer Sherwood becoming major part of the Vancouver Canucks’ offence

Kiefer Sherwood (44) celebrates with his teammates after scoring the overtime winner against Edmonton. (Submitted: Simon Fearn/Imagn Images)

The make-up of a National Hockey League (NHL) team is simple. 

At the top of the depth chart, you have the superstar players. Superstars are relied on to produce offence and handle high-pressure situations. 

In today’s NHL, there is an obvious crop of players who would fall into the superstar category.

Below the superstar players on the depth chart are the star players. Star players are a threat to produce every night. They can put the puck in the net when needed, but not as frequently as the superstars. Star players can be counted on by the coach. 

Superstar and star players play in a top-six role and are a consistent threat when the lights are at their brightest.  

Yet, the question remains. Who is left to step up for a team when the people who make up a huge part of their line-up are injured or fail to produce?  

Checking forwards are the players that do the little things right, like block shots and put up gritty physical stats. They aren’t the ones that fill the stat sheet with goals and points.

Instead, checking forwards can put the puck in the net when their team needs them the most, creating the team’s identity.  

Kiefer Sherwood has become a premier checking forward for the Vancouver Canucks. 

The team signed the Ohio native to a two-year contract in July 2023, after he terrorized the Canucks while playing for the Nashville Predators.  

Over the past two seasons, he has found himself slotting in towards the middle-six part of the lineup. Sherwood is playing on the third line this season with Drew O’Connor and Aatu Raty.  

Being placed lower in the lineup has given Sherwood the chance to excel as a feisty and in-your-face type of player. He scored 21 goals in his first season with the Canucks. 

He also led the team and the league in hits with 462 hits, setting a single-season league record for hits by a player. Many have called Sherwood a younger version of Todd Bertuzzi. Both players wore 44 as their jersey number, not to mention how they each brought a certain intensity and level every time they touched the ice. 

It’s almost like Sherwood takes every shift personally and won’t take no for an answer. 

"I just try to put my work boots on each and every night,” Sherwood told the Canadian Press last December. “And I think when you do that, sometimes good things happen.” 

Sherwood has picked up right where he left off last season. 

In his sophomore year on the West Coast, he has nine goals and fifty hits. Both numbers are good enough for tops on the Canucks. The nine goals are helping him sit near the top of the NHL in scoring.  

He has also continued his hard-nosed style of play.  

Sherwood scored two goals in a game on Oct. 26 against the Edmonton Oilers. 

His first marker was a slick toe drag over the shoulder of goalie Calvin Pickard.

Sherwood undressed Oilers defenseman Matthias Ekholm to extend the Canucks’ lead. 

Sherwood’s second goal came off a redirection in front of the net. Forward Brock Boeser let a shot go from the top of the circle. Boeser’s shot was the sort of play teams try when they want to throw caution to the wind and hope their efforts work.  

Fortunately, Sherwood was the beneficiary of a perfectly placed shot. He got lumber on the puck to tip it home to win the game in overtime. The forward would have had a hat-trick, but he had a goal called back earlier in the game.

Sherwood continued his dominant play later in the week, when the Canucks took on the St. Louis Blues on Oct. 30. He finished the match with a hat-trick, the second of his career. The trio of goals helped keep the Canucks in the game. 

In the end, Vancouver won the game 4-3 in a shootout. Sherwood has five goals in two games against the Blues this season. 

“I just take it one game at a time,” Sherwood told reporters after the win. “The games come fast and furious. Just rinse and repeat and we’ve got to try and build something here. We grinded it out. We mucked it out. We’ve been saying all along just pull the rope as a team. Just keep mucking along.” 

Sherwood’s importance has proven to be paramount to the Canucks. Since the team is being hit by the injury bug early this season, people will rely on Sherwood over the next stretch of games. 

Seemingly, half of the Canuck’s roster is out with injury. Everything started when Filip Chytil suffered a concussion. Since then, multiple players have fallen victim to some sort of physical ailment, creating a domino effect.  

Sherwood is a pending unrestricted free agent at the end of the season. Therefore, a nice payday could be in the future as a reward for bringing fresh energy to every shift.

Teams are constantly looking for someone in the middle six of their line-up who can be the checking forward and an element of sandpaper to their roster. 

Sherwood is someone who would fit the bill and then some. He will certainly be a hot commodity come July 1.  

Regardless of his future, Sherwood’s play this season is set to be absolute cinema. All we can do is sit back and take in everything as it happens.