Kiefer Sherwood plays every shift like it might be his last in the NHL.
It’s understandable why he might play that way: up until this season, it very well could have been true.
Last season with the Nashville Predators was the first time that Sherwood spent a full season in the NHL and, even then, he was sometimes a healthy scratch. He played 68 games with the Predators, averaging just over 12 minutes per game.
This season has been different.
It’s unusual for a player to finally break out as an everyday NHLer at the age of 29, let alone become a legitimately impactful player after years of bouncing between the NHL and the AHL. But that’s exactly what Sherwood has done this season.
Fresh off his first career hat trick on Monday night against the Colorado Avalanche, Sherwood currently has 11 goals and 17 points through 30 games. That has already bested his career high in goals from last season and he’s on pace for 30 goals.
This offensive explosion hasn’t come completely out of nowhere. In his last couple of seasons in the AHL, Sherwood has been an offensive dynamo, with 58 goals in his last 99 AHL games. The trouble has been transitioning that offence to the NHL level, where the game is faster, goaltenders are better, and time and space are limited.
Sherwood had to “scratch and claw for every opportunity”
Time, in particular, has been limited for Sherwood in his career, as he constantly found himself in a fourth-line role in the NHL, playing minimal minutes. It’s awfully hard to score goals when you’re playing 10 minutes or less with grinders for linemates.
So, Sherwood had to find a way to get in the lineup, stay in the lineup, and make his minutes count.
That’s where the hits come in.
“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,” said Sherwood. “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.”
Sherwood has always been a player who knew how to play a grinding, fourth-line game but after losing his spot in the lineup with the Anaheim Ducks and struggling to get ice time with the Colorado Avalanche in his second NHL stop, he knew he had to take another step.
“I mean, there were times where I was playing 4,5, 6 minutes a night when I was in Colorado,” said Sherwood. “At that point, it's kind of survival, but you've got to do whatever you can to make those minutes count, to try to give you a seventh or eighth minute.”
“I still have that view night-in, night-out,” he added. “It's not necessarily about the points, you know? Like, assume that you have zero points: can you say that you impacted the game in a positive way?”
“The puck is more important than the hit”
Sherwood has had a heavy impact on the ice for the Canucks this season, as he leads the NHL in hits by a wide margin. He has 184 hits this season, 55 hits ahead of Mark Kastelic in second place.
In his first game with the Canucks, Sherwood had two hits. He hasn’t had fewer than three in any game since and has four games with 10+ hits. He’s on pace for over 500 hits this season, which would smash the NHL record of 383 hits.
It’s a continuation of what he did with the Nashville Predators the past two seasons. Sherwood stepped up the physical side of his game in Nashville, which started to earn him more games and more ice time. The key was that Sherwood wasn’t hitting just to hit; he was hitting with a purpose, which lead to positive results for his team, even when he wasn’t always the one putting the puck in the net.
Sherwood had a 52.2% corsi at 5-on-5 with the Predators last season, indicating the Predators regularly out-shot their opponents when he was on the ice. In addition, the Predators outscored their opponents 36-to-20 when Sherwood was on the ice at 5-on-5 — the second-best goal differential among Predators forwards behind Filip Forsberg’s plus-17 despite playing 14 fewer games.
Sherwood’s physical play drives a lot of that puck possession, as his focus isn’t just on taking the body for the sake of taking the body but on using his hits to win the puck back for his team, saying, “The puck is more important than the hit.”
“I need to make plays — it's not just about hitting, right?” said Sherwood. “But when I get in on the forecheck and use my speed and drive my feet, that's when I can impose. It's not necessarily about maybe me getting the puck, but maybe my linemate or the D.”
“He pissed the whole team off in the playoffs”
The other side of hitting is that by consistently playing the body, Sherwood hopes to get in the heads of his opponents.
“There were a couple of times last game where I feel like the D kind of figured out I was coming in the third,” said Sherwood. “And then a linemate would scoop the puck up. So, that's important too.”
“There's also a momentum and energy too,” he added. “It's the game within the game: the emotions and the passion that is contagious within the team. I try to bring that night-in, night-out for us to have a little bit of an edge.”
His head coach agrees, seeing that as a major way Sherwood has contributed beyond the points he’s putting on the scoreboard.
“He sets the tone,” said Rick Tocchet. “He’s a first forecheck guy that likes to hit guys — that loosens teams up. They start throwing pucks away as the game goes on.”
Sherwood set that tone in the playoffs against the Canucks last year, making an impression on both the Canucks’ management and the Canucks’ captain.
“I talked to Quinn and he was more excited about Sherwood than anyone because he pissed the whole team off in the playoffs by playing hard,” said general manager Patrik Allvin after signing Sherwood in free agency on July 1.
“Tired is in the mind and the mind is going to give up before the body”
Neither Allvin nor Quinn Hughes could have anticipated just how big an impact Sherwood would have. He’s now tied for second on the Canucks in goalscoring and the team has outscored their opponents 21-to-12 at 5-on-5 — the best goal differential among Canucks forwards.
While he’s primarily played in the bottom-six, Sherwood’s play has earned him opportunities higher up the lineup, including minutes with Elias Pettersson. Sherwood, who was struggling to earn a seventh or eighth minute a few years ago, played a career-high 20:17 this season in a game against the Ottawa Senators.
That was, of course, one of his games with 10 hits.
Sherwood had to admit that there’s a difference between finishing every hit when you’re playing limited minutes compared to the minutes he’s sometimes played with the Canucks. It’s easier to be fresh and go flying into an opponent in fewer shifts. Still, Sherwood looks at every shift as an opportunity.
“I just try to bring an impact every minute that I have. That’s the way I look at it,” said Sherwood. “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.”
There is, of course, wear and tear on the body. As much as throwing hits can wear down the opponents, Sherwood had to admit that there’s no easy way to avoid taking the same punishment as your opponent when you’re throwing hits. For Sherwood, it takes mental strength to keep playing the body.
“I'm not the biggest guy, I'm not the strongest guy, so I think I have to put more into my hits,” said Sherwood. “I think I need to rely more on my speed and in my shoulder and arms than just my size. It’s also a timing thing. You've got to be careful.
“It’s just more of a mentality I think that I need. That's the biggest thing.”
“I respect the guys; it’s a gentleman’s game.”
Even as Sherwood notes the physical toll of so many hits on both himself and his opponents, he’s quick to note that he’s never looking to truly injure anyone.
“I don't want to throw anyone under the bus. There's certain guys around the league that I think are dirty hitters,” said Sherwood. “I'm hitting more to wear them down or set them up for later on in the game, or to get that puck back.
“I respect the guys; it's a gentleman's game. I don't want to take anyone out if I can, but I do want to be mean and I want to get under guys' skin. I do think it's on the hitter to deliver the hit in a safe spot, and not necessarily go up high.”
That’s something that can be seen consistently in Sherwood’s hits. While he’ll often explode into an opponent, using his upper body in combination with his speed to take someone out of hte play, Sherwood never comes up high into an opponent’s head.
“I think at this level, we're old enough, you're in control of your own body, you've got to be able to deliver it in the right spot and the right time,” said Sherwood. “If the guy is also in a vulnerable position, I'll try to make sure that I don't catch him up high. There's certain times too, where obviously the game just takes over and your instinct just takes over, but I try to do it in a manner where I impose my physicality, but not necessarily get them up high.”
“Hockey is a game of momentum and energy"
Sherwood isn’t the only Canuck throwing hits, of course, even if he’s throwing far more than anyone else in the league.
Dakota Joshua, who led the Canucks in hits last season and finished ninth in the NHL, has 57 hits in 16 games since returning the lineup after recovering from offseason surgery for testicular cancer. He joked in his return that he would try to catch Sherwood, even if his teammate has a major head start.
The issue for Joshua is that when he’s throwing hits, he just makes Sherwood want to hit more.
“I feel like I hit more when other guys hit more,” said Sherwood. “When Dak starts running around, or Juuls gets a nice hit, or Millsy, that gets me going — that's the contagious part.
“Hockey is a game of momentum and energy, and if we need a little bit, sometimes that extra hit will bring some juice and turn the tide. Same thing with a good fight, or a good scrap.”
Sherwood has brought a lot of momentum and energy to the Canucks this season, making him one of the best free agent signings of the offseason across the NHL.
