The Vancouver Canucks set a new franchise record in the 2023-24 season with a total of 2,178 hits.
At least, it’s a franchise record since the NHL started officially recording the statistic in 2005. The rough-and-tumble Canucks teams of past decades might have something to say about that franchise record but we’ll never know for sure.
The 2023-24 Canucks boasted some of the most prolific hitters in the league, led by Dakota Joshua, whose 244 hits landed him ninth in the NHL despite missing 19 games. He kept up the hit parade in the playoffs, finishing third in the postseason in hits with 74 despite the Canucks’ second-round exit.
J.T. Miller was second on the Canucks in hits with 217 but the Canucks spread the hits around. 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 came just shy of 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.
The Canucks, then, had plenty of hit quantity. But what about quality?
Fortunately, the Canucks also had plenty of heavy-impact, aesthetically pleasing hits this past season, so I decided to count down the ten best hits of the season, along with some honourable mentions. Without further ado, here's the top ten list:
Let’s be clear: much like the hit statistic itself, this list is entirely subjective. These are just the hits that I liked the most. Let’s break down my reasoning.
10 | Mar 19 vs Sabres - Quinn Hughes on Victor Olofsson
This may not be the heaviest hit on the list but it sure made an impact on the Canucks’ crowd. The context is what gets this hit into the top ten: this is Quinn Hughes, who rarely throws a hit, mostly 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 need to hit?
But, throughout his career, Hughes has faced the criticism of being undersized, so when Victor Olofsson came cutting across the top of the Canucks’ zone and Hughes knocked him flat on his rear end, there was a certain amount of catharsis for both him and the fans in the arena.
“It’s just funny, you don’t see that much from me. It was a good feeling,” said Hughes after the game, adding about the crowd, “It was almost like I scored a goal or something, so that was funny.”
“Well, it was a message around the league, don’t go over there with Quinn Hughes,” quipped head coach Rick Tocchet. “But it’s true! You never know! You never know who might hit. Yeah, it was a hell of a hit. On the bench, he was actually smiling, he liked it that much.”
9 | Jan 27 vs Blue Jackets - Noah Juulsen on Adam Fantilli
Sending a guy flying into a bench is a good way to get into a top-ten list. Sure, it would have been preferably for Noah Juulsen to send Adam Fantilli into the Columbus Blue Jackets’ bench but you can’t always get what you want.
Juulsen had some of the heaviest hits of the season for the Canucks but there were a few occasions where he took himself out of position to chase hits, which proved costly in the playoffs.
There’s no chasing on this hit on Fantilli, though. Juulsen goes for the puck first. In fact, if he didn’t hit the puck into Fantilli’s skates, this very much would have been interference.
8 | May 12 vs Oilers - Dakota Joshua on Mattias Ekholm
This was a tag team effort, with Elias Lindholm getting things started on Mattias Ekholm, but it’s Dakota Joshua that gets the finishing blow.
There’s just something about Ekholm’s stick going flying as Ekholm himself goes crashing to the ice.
7 | Oct 14 vs Oilers - J.T. Miller on 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 J.T. Miller still crushes him.
That’s what elevates this hit beyond some of the other open-ice hits that landed in the honourable 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 that he’s a 6’8” behemoth.
This is one of those occasions, as Myers hammers Calle Jarnkrok into the Canucks bench, where 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 are also good defensive plays. Here, he stopped a Los Angeles Kings breakout dead in its tracks with a picture-perfect open-ice hit that even the Kings announcers had to admit was as clean as a whistle.
Alex Laferriere is probably still sore from this hit over four months later.
4 | Nov 4 vs Stars - Ian Cole on Matt Duchene
I have no idea how Matt Duchene didn’t see Ian Cole coming. It doesn’t even occur to him that the defenceman might come pinching down the boards. He just opens up toward the middle of the ice and starts to skate 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 bodily contact.
Cole wasn’t the most frequent hitter on the Canucks — his 3.41 hits per 60 minutes was higher than just Hronek and Hughes among Canucks defencemen — but when he did take the body it stayed taken.
3 | Apr 26 vs Predators - Nikita Zadorov on Roman Josi
I love everything about this hit. It’s such a well-timed play by Nikita Zadorov, as he reads the play perfectly, recognizes that Roman Josi is going to turn the corner on Teddy Blueger, and steps up to deliver a devastating shoulder-to-shoulder hit.
Zadorov even has coverage behind him as he leaves his check, future Canuck Kiefer Sherwood, so he’s not going to get caught defensively while chasing the hit. This hit is basically perfect. But it’s not the best Canucks hit of the 2023-24 season.
2 | Oct 11 vs Oilers - Elias Pettersson on Cody Ceci
Play-by-play announcer Harnarayan Singh no-sold the call on this massive hit, barely responding at all in the moment. He only called it a “collision” between the two players as if Elias Pettersson didn’t absolutely truck Cody Ceci.
It's even more impactful because it's Pettersson. Canucks fans are well aware that Pettersson loves to throw hits but it still seems to catch everyone outside of this fanbase off guard.
Look, is this a charge? Well, yeah. Of course, it is. Pettersson launched himself like a torpedo into Ceci’s chest. But that’s the key: he hit him in the chest, not the head, and he didn’t launch him dangerously into the boards but merely sent him flying in open ice.
It’s a lot easier to celebrate a rule-bending hit when it’s awesome rather than dangerous.
But there’s one more hit that’s even better.
1 | May 12 vs Oilers - Nikita Zadorov on Evander Kane
Oh yeah, that’s the stuff.
Nikita Zadorov and Evander Kane battled the entire second round but this was the signature moment, as Zadorov sent Kane tuchus over teakettle into the Oilers’ bench.
The only thing better than sending a player on an inadvertent line change is hitting him completely through the glass a la Trevor Linden on Jeff Norton. Regrettably, no one did that this season. Maybe they’re making the glass out of sterner stuff these days.
As an added bonus, you get to see Kane grinning like an idiot thinking he drew a power play only for that smile to get erased when he finds out there’s an offsetting bench minor to the Oilers to make it 4-on-4.
Regrettably, Zadorov won’t be throwing any more massive hits for the Canucks, as he’s heading to the Boston Bruins next season.
On the plus side, the Canucks’ free agent signings aren’t shy about throwing the body. Kiefer Sherwood threw 234 hits last season, Vincent Desharnais and Jake DeBrusk both topped 100 hits, and Derek Forbort threw 100+ hits in each of the two seasons prior to last season, where injuries limited him to 35 games.
Odds are, the Canucks will again be near the top of the NHL in hits next season.
Addendum | Nov 24 vs Kraken - Nils Höglander on Brandon Tanev
Regrettably missed in my initial search for the best hits of the season, this devastating open-ice hit by Nils Höglander on Brandon Tanev really ought to be in the top ten. My thanks to u/Lorenzo_ on r/Canucks for reminding me of this massive check.
Heck, this hit probably deserves to be in the top 5. Höglander may be short but it's inaccurate to describe him as small. at 185 lbs, that's a lot of strength and power packed into his shorter frame and Tanev was on the receiving end of all of it.
