If there’s one Vancouver Canuck that can look back at their 2024-25 season and claim it was an unqualified success, it’s Kiefer Sherwood. The feisty winger set career highs in nearly every statistic and etched his name into the NHL record books. As one of the few forwards to outperform his expectations, Sherwood’s season should be celebrated.
Offensive Leader
For all the offensive struggles that befell the Canucks this past season, none of it rests on the shoulders of Sherwood. While his 40 points were a pretty modest amount, the way he scored them was incredibly important and impressive.
He set a career high in games played (78), goals (19), assists (21), and points (40), with all but seven coming at 5v5. He lead all Canucks forwards with 33 even-strength points and was second overall, behind only Quinn Hughes.
Across the entire league, he was tied for 89th in 5v5 points by a forward. Only one player scored more points with an equal or lower cap hit and not signed to an entry-level contract: Philadelphia Flyers winger Bobby Brink. In comparison, his former team, the Nashville Predators, gave Steven Stamkos over five times Sherwood’s cap hit, and he only mustered 11 goals and 25 points at 5v5.
The importance of Sherwood’s goals was massive, too. He led the team in game-winning goals with six. Jake DeBrusk and Conor Garland finished with four apiece, and no one else cleared half as many as the Columbus, Ohio native. This placed him within the top 50 in the NHL. Only one Mats Zuccarello scored as high a ratio of game-winning goals compared to total goals.
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The coaching staff also trusted him as a penalty killer, something he had never done with regularity in the NHL before. By the end of the season, he was the third-most-used penalty killing forward, behind Pius Suter and Teddy Blueger. With this added responsibility, Sherwood still found small ways to contribute offensively, scoring a short-handed goal and an assist. He clearly had a positive impact as the Canucks finished the season with the third best penalty kill in the league.
As mentioned earlier, Sherwood only has a $1.5 million cap hit and is signed through the upcoming season. Purely through his offensive contributions, he’s one of the most valuable players in the league. However, his impact goes beyond the scoresheet and penalty killing.
NHL’s Hit King
Sherwood finished the 2023-24 season with 234 hits, good enough for 15th in the NHL. His teammate, Jeremy Lauzon, set the NHL record for hits that season with 383. The Canucks forwards mashed his ex-teammate’s total, setting a new NHL record for hits in a season with 462. This gives him 954 career hits across two full NHL seasons and five partial ones.
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The NHL record for career hits is Cal Clutterbuck with 4,029. Sherwood has little chance of reaching. He would need to average 400 hits a season for nine more seasons, and he turns 30 next season. However, if he can average 400 hits over the next five seasons, that would put him just above Dion Phaneuf for 15th in all-time hits. Realistic? Probably not. However, every Canucks fan should be thrilled to watch him attempt to do so.
Sherwood views hitting as essential to his success as a player and a means to give his team an edge.
“It’s adapt or die, a quote I kind of came to live by.
“I needed to find a way to not just stick, but make an impact. I try to find the triggers and what makes people a little self-conscious. Get them off their games and get them talking about me and less about our other guys to free them up.”
Former Canucks head coach Rick Tocchet spoke about players finding their identity in the NHL and Sherwood echoed this sentiment.
“As a guy that had to scratch and claw for every opportunity, when my minutes and games were really limited earlier on in my career, you’ve got to do the little things to try and stick in.
“One of them was just finish every check, finish every play. Then I started to understand how I need to play, the identity that I need to bring, and the value that I bring to a team.”
He views himself as something of a culture carrier; a guy who gives full commitment every night regardless of his place in the lineup.
“I just try to bring an impact every minute that I have. That’s the way I look at it. So, whether I play 10 minutes a night, or I’ve been fortunate to play 18 or whatever this year, I need to bring that every night.
“It’s not about getting tired. I think tired is in the mind, and the mind is going to give up before the body. That’s on us to be a pro and recover and be ready for the next one.”
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Sherwood came into the season as the guy who stood out against the Canucks in the playoffs, and finished the season as a fan favourite. The feisty winger’s 19 goals, frequently scored at key moments in games, and record-setting number of hits were some of the few offensive highlights Canucks fans had to cheer about from the forwards.
He played with a passion and energy that was often lacking on a game-to-game basis. Rarely did fans watch a game without thinking that Kiefer Sherwood didn’t give it his all. So much so that the fans voted him as the Canucks’ Unsung Hero.
It will be difficult for him to match his scoring and hit totals next season, but after 2024-2025, Canucks fans all know he’s capable of doing so.
