Kiefer Sherwood’s impact on the ice is both literal and figurative.
The literal impact is obvious. Sherwood has never met a check he didn’t finish. He currently leads the NHL in hits with 115 hits in just 18 games, 20 hits ahead of his former Nashville Predators teammate, Jeremy Lauzon, who is in second place. That puts Sherwood on pace for 534 hits over the course of an 82-game season, which would obliterate the single-season hit record of 383 hits set last season by Lauzon.
After reaching 100 hits in a game against the Chicago Blackhawks, Sherwood admitted, “I’m certainly trying to shoot for the record now.”
“Keep them coming. I’m just getting started,” said Sherwood after he reached 100 hits in a game against the Chicago Blackhawks. “I want to impose physicality and be hard to play against for our team, so just on to the next hundred, I guess.”
But Sherwood’s impact on the ice extends beyond hammering opponents into the boards. The impact he has on his teammates is even more significant.
Kiefer Sherwood makes everyone he plays with better
If Sherwood was throwing hits just for the sake of adding to his hits total, it wouldn’t be much help for the Canucks. But Sherwood hits with a purpose, always looking to create a turnover or take an opponent out of the play in order to help his teammates win possession of the puck.
Sherwood is particularly a menace on the forecheck, frequently winning the puck for his linemates or at least making opposing defencemen second guess themselves.
"Ask any defenceman, if they're going back for the breakout, they're looking over their shoulder when they see Sherwood," said head coach Rick Tocchet earlier in the season.
In addition, Sherwood isn’t just a one-dimensional checker; as suggested by some of his dominant performances as a top-line forward in the AHL, Sherwood has some offensive upside.
"I'm not looking necessarily at numbers of hits; it's more about playing hockey," he said. "When the hits present themselves, I'll take them, but the puck's out there too. I want to make plays first and get the puck back and, over the time of games, get after their D as much as I can."
Sherwood’s combination of hard forechecking and above-average playmaking shows up in his underlying numbers, as Sherwood currently leads all Canucks forwards in corsi percentage — the ratio of shot attempts for and against at 5-on-5 — at 56.4%.
More than that, Sherwood improves the corsi of everyone he plays with. Sherwood has spent at least 20 minutes at 5-on-5 with 12 Canucks skaters and each one has a better corsi with Sherwood than they do without him, frequently significantly better.
(Statistics folks, please forgive my non-standard use of a line chart but it seemed the most elegant way to portray how much better Sherwood makes every other Canuck)
Sometimes, these types of with-or-without-you (WOWY) charts can be misleading because of the usage of certain players but it’s not like Sherwood has been sheltered. On the contrary, Sherwood has spent the fifth-most minutes against elite competition among Canucks forwards, according to PuckIQ, and only Teddy Blueger has been on the ice for a higher ratio of defensive zone faceoffs compared to offensive zone faceoffs among Canucks forwards.
All that is to say, Sherwood plays tough minutes and excels in those minutes, improving the results of his teammates along the way.
"It's easy to play with [Sherwood] when he's always first on the forecheck"
One of those teammates is Elias Pettersson.
Sherwood has been matched with Pettersson and Jake DeBrusk for the past three games and the early results have been very promising.
Over the last three games, the Canucks have out-attempted their opponents 47-to-24 with that trio on the ice at 5-on-5 — a nearly 2-to-1 margin. Shots on goal have been a 2-to-1 margin for that line at 20-to-10 and the Canucks have out-scored their opponents 3-to-1 in their minutes.
Tocchet has a simple theory for why Sherwood works with an elite player like Pettersson.
“I just think Sherwood’s a straight-line guy,” said Rick Tocchet. “I think having Sherwood in there, I think he makes that line play forward and north. I think that he’s done that all year for us. And he’ll hit a guy on the forecheck too.”
Pettersson immediately cited Sherwood’s ability on the forecheck when asked what has been working for that line.
“It’s easy to play with [Sherwood] when he’s always first on the forecheck, playing the body, and I read where the next play goes,” said Pettersson. “I think we created some good turnovers. It’s three games now with this line and I think it’s been good so far but we want to do more.”
As for Sherwood, his repeated refrain when asked about playing in a top-six role has been “I’m there for a reason.” He recognizes that the same game that has moved him up the lineup is the game he needs to play to stay up the lineup.
"My game isn't just hitting," he said. "There's a lot more that I want to bring and impact the game with. Now, in saying that, there's a time and a place where you do hit and go through the body and it's funny how many times we get the puck back. Some of the goals are created from a hard forecheck and getting after their D."
Sherwood’s fit with Pettersson is something few foresaw heading into the season but, at least in a small sample size, it seems like a match made in heaven.
Kiefer Sherwood is on pace to smash his career highs
All of the hitting, puck possession, and playmaking in the world wouldn’t matter if it wasn’t getting results. Fortunately, Sherwood is getting those results.
With 5 goals and 10 points in 18 games, Sherwood is currently sixth on the Canucks in scoring. He’s on pace for 23 goals and 46 points, which would smash his career highs of 10 goals and 27 points from last season.
With all of those points coming at 5-on-5, Sherwood actually leads the Canucks in 5-on-5 scoring, tied with Quinn Hughes at 10 5-on-5 points.
Sherwood has also been no slouch defensively. At 5-on-5, the Canucks have out-scored their opponents 14-to-8 with Sherwood on the ice, giving him the best goal differential among Canucks forwards this season.
Certainly, there’s a little bit of luck involved — the Canucks have a 12.6% shooting percentage with Sherwood on the ice at 5-on-5, which is fourth highest on the Canucks — but not an outrageous amount. Besides, his impact on puck possession outweighs any good fortune he’s had along the way.
Kiefer Sherwood might be the Canucks' best penalty killer
Sherwood hasn’t just had an impact at 5-on-5, of course; he’s also been one of the Canucks’ most effective penalty killers.
Sherwood is third in shorthanded ice time among Canucks forwards at 21:40 and has yet to be on the ice for a single power play goal against. Only five players around the NHL have played more minutes on the penalty kill than Sherwood without being on the ice for a power play goal.
That’s not just luck or good goaltending either. Among Canucks forwards, only Conor Garland has been on the ice for a lower rate of unblocked shots or shots on goal against and Garland has played nine fewer minutes than Sherwood on the penalty kill.
That’s particularly impressive considering Sherwood had limited experience on the penalty kill at the NHL level heading into this season. Last season, Sherwood played a total of 22:54 on the penalty kill across the entire season. He’s pretty much matched that ice time in just 18 games this season.
It’s a role that Tocchet immediately saw as a fit for Sherwood in training camp.
“He gets up the ice, his forecheck,” said Tocchet of Sherwood on the penalty kill after a preseason game. “The reason why Edmonton was good last year on their PK, especially in the playoffs, they were a hard team to get in the zone. I think Shersie can be that guy for us, where he gets up the ice…This camp, we’ve made an emphasis of getting up the ice and being more aggressive.”
Put it all together — the hits, the possession, the points, the chemistry with Pettersson, and the penalty kill — and you have arguably the Canucks’ most impactful forward this season.
