C Nico Hischier - Halifax Mooseheads, QMJHL (2017, 1st, NJD) II

[Cheddabombs]

I think before the year I, and other Devils' fans, would have been happy with around 40 points and good defense out of Nico this year. He's been better defensively than I thought he would be and he already has 40 points with 20+ games to go.

Very very pleased with his season so far and he looks to have higher potential than some gave him credit for.

 

[haak84]

nico is already one of the best 5vs5 players in the league. he has all the skills to be an elite point producer on the power play. i honestly see 70 points as his floor.

 

[NJ DevLolz]

I'll take it though, after all those assists were taken away from him earlier in the season. Think it was so quick I guess when the puck deflected to Hall, perhaps Nico got a stick on it.

Keep it going Nico!

He should've gotten an assist on Lovejoy's goal vs TB a few days ago

 

[NJ DevLolz]

Holy ****- this article is bonkers. Nico is going to be a superstar. In fact, he may not be far off right now: Nico Hischier’s Underrated Season

"Nico is not only, very possibly, the best 5v5 rookie in the NHL — he’s among the best overall players at 5v5. According to Corsica, Nico Hischier is 24th in the NHL among skaters with at least 200 minutes played in ixGF/60 (expected goals per hour). This is what has made his current (as of this article) scoring streak thoroughly unsurprising. Nico is in opportunities to put the puck in the back of the net at 5v5 play just as much as most elite players in the league.

And it’s not just in this fuzzy stat world of “expected goals” that he excels. In primary points/60 (goals and first assist) Nico Hischier is 12th in the NHL. As just a taste of how good that is, the next 6 names on the list are Alex Ovechkin, Connor McDavid, Evgeni Malkin, Leon Draisaitl, Patrice Pergeron, and Johnny Gaudreau. He either scores, or directly sets up a goal more times per minute than all of those guys."

"But aside from the point totals, he’s performing well in the underlying stats as well. Predictably, his Corsi is among the highest on the team (trails only Noesen, Hall, and Wood in CF%Rel-SVA). But he’s generating independent from Taylor Hall as well. He’s assisted goals for 11 different Devils, and had his goals assisted by 12 different Devils (via Natural Stat Trick). He also has positive relative stats in everything even when you take Hall off his wing (via NSTagain)."

 

[GeNeXt]

Yeah, how are people claiming his ceiling is going to 60-70 point center, when he may hit 60 points in his 18-year-old season. Obviously, scoring is up this season, but if he continues at this rate he can easily become a point-per-game player over his career.

 

[haak84]

nico has all the makings of a PP specialist as well. great along the boards for his size. excellent intelligence and vision. amazing edge work. extremely accurate shot with great release point. he is very gritty with great hands around the net.

if the devils PP was anywhere near decent and he was on the first unit, he would be closer to 55 points.

 

[VoidCreature]

I honestly didn't see where he touched the puck last night to get the assist

He broke up the cross ice pass to Atkinson, saving a goal. At first I thought it was Hall who got a stick on it, but watch closely and you'll see it was Nico.

 

[VoidCreature]

Holy ****- this article is bonkers. Nico is going to be a superstar. In fact, he may not be far off right now: Nico Hischier’s Underrated Season

He's moved up to 10th in 5v5 primary points/60, past Barzal.

Some other cool bits from that article,

Despite playing with the best skater (Hall) of any of the rookies I just mentioned, Nico is most capable of thriving away from his most frequent linemate. The most common linemates for Hischier, Barzal, Gourde, Connor, and Boeser are: Hall, Jordan Eberle, Brayden Point, Blake Wheeler, and Bo Horvat, respectively. Only one of the rookies has a positive relative corsi away from those linemates — Nico. And only one player improves away from that linemate — Nico.

Boeser goes from a +1.94% CF%Rel (Score/Venue-Adjusted) with Horvat to a -3.57% without him, Connor goes from -4.29% to -6.17% without Wheeler, Gourde sees his +1.34% decrease to -0.55% sans Point, and Barzal plummets from an elite +8.38% to a thoroughly mediocre -0.34% away from Eberle. By comparison, Nico’s CF%Rel actually rises from +1.49 to +2.37 when Hall is taken off his wing.

 

[VoidCreature]

Something tells me Nico should be picking up even more apples than he is.

 

[JC704]

I'm a Rangers fan (best friend is a Devils fan), who has seen A LOT of Jersey games this season, and he sincerely reminds me of Pavel Datsyuk. The smoothness, the IQ is all there, plus he is also scoring early -- playing with a Hart Trophy candidate certainly helps. He is going to be some player. Tavares to the right, Nico the left, simply cannot win ever. *Sigh*

 

[haak84]

not a sexy scoring play but still just nasty. kid has serious skills on both ends of the ice.

edit:


this was late in the 1 goal game.

 

[My3Sons]

not a sexy scoring play but still just nasty. kid has serious skills on both ends of the ice.

edit:


this was late in the 1 goal game.

I’m sure Barzal isn’t used to hat happening.

 

[Cheddabombs]

And he didn't get on the scoresheet but made key plays leading to each goal. First was a fantastic back-check to block the shot leading to the Devils gaining back possession. And the second he beats Leddy to the puck battle, shields it well, holds the puck with his skate until help arrives and then kicks it to Hall.

 

[Emperoreddy]

They went back and gave Nico an assist

 

[Colin226]

Check out this shift by Nico in last night’s game. Wow!

 

[WhiskeyYerTheDevils]

not a sexy scoring play but still just nasty. kid has serious skills on both ends of the ice.

edit:


this was late in the 1 goal game.

Both of those were so Datsyukian. His confidence is really starting to take off.

 

[VictorLustig]

Yeah this kid will soon be one of the top players in the game.

 

[NJ DevLolz]

Still has one of the biggest ****** in the league.

 

[zharkenby]

If Nico can play the way he did last night for the rest of the season... I really like the devils playoff odds. This kid still has an unknown amount of potential... there’s no limit to where his game could go.

 

[WhiskeyYerTheDevils]

I also would like to point out just how dominant Hischier has been this year at 5v5:

5v5 primary p/60:

Hischier 2.17
Hall 2.11

5v5 p/60:

Hall 2.68
Hischier 2.59

5v5 penalties drawn/60:

Hischier 1.54
Hall .96

He also leads the team in 5v5 s/60 and HDCF/60 at 5v5.

This is not a slight on Hall, who's been our most valuable player. This is merely to show the company Nico is already keeping. IMO Hischier has been our best 5v5 player considering his position. Without trying to discredit Hall, I'd argue that, absent Hischier, he doesn't have the same type of breakout MVP season.

He's going to be a poor man's Datsyuk when all is said and done. I expect him to be right around 65-75 points most seasons while being a beast all over the ice.

 

[42]

Hynes needs to start playing him on the top PP.

 

[haak84]

I expect him to be right around 65-75 points most seasons while being a beast all over the ice.

Think people underrate his offensive ability. I could see him being a consistent 60 point scorer over 15 years and peaking around 85-95 points. He already has the ES numbers and he has tons of skill that should translate to solid PP numbers.

 

[42]

Think people underrate his offensive ability. I could see him being a consistent 60 point scorer over 15 years and peaking around 85-95 points. He already has the ES numbers and he has tons of skill that should translate to solid PP numbers.

Yeah, he's on pace to finish around 50 ES points this season. Add 20-30 PPP and perhaps even better EV production in his prime and we've got 80+ points.

 

[WhiskeyYerTheDevils]

Think people underrate his offensive ability. I could see him being a consistent 60 point scorer over 15 years and peaking around 85-95 points. He already has the ES numbers and he has tons of skill that should translate to solid PP numbers.

Yeah, he's on pace to finish around 50 ES points this season. Add 20-30 PPP and perhaps even better EV production in his prime and we've got 80+ points.

While his ES production has been great, he's also running a tad hot and is likely to have regression. His ES on ice sh% is 11.1%, where it should probably be closer to 8.5% - 10%. So the 46 ES points he is on pace for should probably be closer to 35-42. I expect him to build upon that as he matures and add 15-25+ PP points per year, which is why I peg him around 65-75, but who knows, he could peak even higher.

 

[My3Sons]

Both of those were so Datsyukian. His confidence is really starting to take off.

Great adjective