4 NHL Players Comparable to Canucks’ Brooks Rogowski

While Caleb Malhotra and Adam Novotny have gotten most of the coverage, many Canucks fans may be wondering what the team has in their system’s other prospects. Here are four established players with similar traits to Rogowski that could perhaps serve as blueprints for what he could become.

Tage Thompson

Let’s get the obvious one out of the way. When you think of a towering scoring NHL forward, Tage Thompson is usually the first name that comes to mind. He’s been one of the better players in the league for several seasons now, with the 15th-most goals scored this decade and a role on Team USA in both the 4 Nations Face-Off and the 2026 Winter Olympics.

Rogowski and Thompson share plenty of similarities. Of course, the obvious one is size. Thompson stands at 6-foot-6, an inch shorter than Rogowski, which is hard to believe considering how massive Thompson always looks out there. Going beyond size, Thompson has an offensive toolkit that allows him to thrive, something that scouts say they see in Rogowski. 

Thompson had one of the more unique paths to breaking out in the NHL; as if the league had a most improved player award, he might’ve won it twice. It’s important with extremely tall players to show patience, as their development cycles can take longer and there can be more growing pains early. This is partially why Rogowski wasn’t taken in the first round, as he does have a project label, something that Thompson was both as a prospect and as a young player trying to break into the league.

Blake Wheeler

Rogowski was asked which player he views as most comparable to his game, and he chose Blake Wheeler (from ‘2026 NHL Draft player survey: Top prospects pick their own comparables,’ The Athletic, June 17, 2026). This may have seemed like a bit of a surprise, but when you dig into it, there is plenty of overlap.

A Wheeler-esque piece in some ways would be a very optimistic projection, as he was a star during his time with the Winnipeg Jets. Not only did he serve as the Jets’ captain, but he finished top 10 in Hart Trophy voting in the team’s breakout 2017-18 season.

Rogowski singled out Wheeler in particular because of his ability to also play a solid two-way game, which we saw in the late 2010s with the Jets. Scouts have pointed out Rogowski’s effective two-way game, which has earned him penalty-kill time, very similar to Wheeler, who had a knack for picking up shorthanded goals.

Realistically, it’s hard for a player to become as good as Wheeler, but if the Canucks get even 75% of what he brought with Rogowski, that’s a steal of a pick.

Nick Bjugstad

When it comes to realistic possibilities for Rogowski, Nick Bjugstad represents the balance: an outcome you would want from a solid prospect without being too optimistic a projection. 

There isn’t too much flash with Bjugstad, but in his career he’s been known for being big and getting the job done. He’s a player who has had a couple of 20-goal seasons and has broken 40 points twice as well. You mostly get value from Bjugstad in his own end, though, as he has logged a lot of penalty-kill minutes in his career, something Rogowski probably will do if he pans out.

It’s surprising how long of a career Bjugstad has had, as while he has been mostly a bottom-six type, he’s logged 14 seasons and has suited up for seven teams, and eight if you view the Utah Mammoth as a separate entity from the Arizona Coyotes. Again, he’s not a player you would classify as a star, but he was a productive contributor for a long time and still has a role in the league all of these years later.

Aliaksei Protas

One last name that stands out as a potential comparable for Rogowski is the Washington Capitals’ Aliaksei Protas. 

Protas is a hulking player who strikes fear into opponents, the perfect power forward build, standing just an inch shorter than Rogowski. What makes the two similar is that neither of their games is focused on hitting and physicality, but their size allows them to do damage when they throw their body. Protas’s offensive talents are similar to Rogowski’s, and that allowed him to have a 30-goal campaign in 2024-25.

Aleksei’s brother Ilya Protas, who is going into his rookie season, is also similar to both Aliaksei and Rogowski, and he will see if he can find success and perhaps contend for the Calder Trophy, especially as he won the American Hockey League (AHL) top rookie award last season.

Becoming His Own Player

Rogowski has the potential to be a very unique player, as the combination of size and all-around skill isn’t very common. He will probably take some time to develop, but if done right, his outcome could potentially be similar to one of these names.