Minnesota Wild: Niederreiter Poised for Another Career Year

Nino Niederreiter has increased his point totals in all three of his seasons with the Minnesota Wild. With new coaching, new system, and great players for linemates Niederreiter is poised to make it another career high in point totals in 2016-17.

Nino Niederreiter’s arrival to the Minnesota Wild was on the back of a trade that saw a very popular player Cal Clutterbuck head to the Islanders in exchange for Niederreiter. The issue with being traded for such a beloved player is that often times the expectations for you can be really high. Luckily for Niederreiter he’s largely delivered in his three seasons with the Wild, and become one of the key pieces in a young nucleus that could be the scoring future of the team.

Every season with the Wild Nino has improved on his scoring numbers. Since coming to Minnesota he’s racked up 36, 37, and 43 points in three straight seasons and it seems like he’s poised for another point increase. The only question is how much of an increase will it be?

Perhaps the best line for the Wild in the last two months of last season was Niederreiter’s third line that he played on with Erik Haula and Jason Pominville. Both Pomiville and Haula turned their seasons around and became the two best scorers on the team. Their play was so good that it elevated Niederreiter as well, and Nino would benefit to the tune of 8 goals and 5 assists from March 1st to the end of the Wild’s playoff run on April 24th.

All the indications are that the Niederreiter, Haula, and Pominville line will be intact for next year. It’s interesting to think that this group who combined for so many points at the end of last season will be together from day one. Taking that into account the potential for Niederreiter to increase his point total is very high, if the line picks up where it left off.

Furthermore, it seems that Nino’s age and experience are favoring another big points increase. Niederreiter turns 24 in September and will be entering his fourth year of full NHL service, and historically the mid-twenties have produced peak performance for many great NHL players. Age won’t slow down him down, and in his case it’ll most likely help him as his maturity and physical ability will be the best they’ve been.

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Most of all though Neiderreiter will fit in well with Bruce Boudreau’s new offensive system and could see a pick-up in points simply attributed to the new offensive system of the Wild. Under Mike Yeo it seemed that a player like Neiderreiter suffered because of Yeo’s focus on positioning that seemed to stifle much of a player’s natural instincts. Niederrieter likes to use his size and grittiness to create his own space and a smart coach like Boudreau will know how to maximize that and give him the freedom to be creative. He’ll have the green light to shoot more and go to the net which are all things Niederreiter does well.

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So how much can Niederreiter increase his point total next season? Looking at the fact that the Wild will be re-tooled personnel wise, focusing more on offense, and that he’ll be playing with a group he was so successful with Niederreiter could see his goal total go over 25 goals and approach 30. His assists will most likely go over 25 making him at least a 50-point player. Health aside it seems that all the factors that have fueled his good play in the past will be upped this season and that means good things in the form of point increases for Nino.

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