Saturday, June 7, 2014

2013-14 Season In Review: Nino Niederreiter

Photo: Paul Bereswill/Getty Images
A review of Nino Niederreiter's first season in Minnesota.

Stats

Minnesota (NHL): Regular Season-81 GP, 14 G, 22 A, 36 P, 44 PIM, 143 SOG
                             Playoffs-13 GP, 3 G, 3 A, 6 P, 8 PIM, 22 SOG

Review

Nino came over to the Wild last summer from the Islanders. He started the season on the second line, but as time moved on he appeared not as comfortable there and was moved down in the lineup. He received less ice time with each passing game, despite some scoring rates that were more favorable for second line players, not third or fourth liners. By the end of the year, Nino was getting around 12-13 minutes of ice time a night. His postseason however, was a different story. Niederreiter found a fourth gear for the postseason and proved to be a horse for the Wild. He received a huge boost in ice time, and ended up scoring one of the most memorable goals in franchise history. Nino only scored six points, but that does not indicate how well he played in the playoffs. He was much better than what those numbers say.

Highlights











Status for 2014-15

This offseason, Nino is a restricted free agent. His salary in 2013-14 was $2,795,000 and will probably look to get a slight raise from that number moving forward. Seeing how Nino stepped up in the postseason, the Wild will probably give him that same salary. It might be on a two year contract just to see how he pans out in the next two years, but it will definitely be worth the investment.


Follow Giles on Twitter @gilesferrell

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