New Jersey Devils: Throw Out This Season For Nico Hischier

There have been a lot of unnecessary worries this season when it comes to the future star players of the New Jersey Devils. It started with Jack Hughes, who had a long pointless streak despite playing really well on the ice. It continued with Mackenzie Blackwood, but the state of the Devils goalies behind him show he clearly isn’t the problem here. There are even some people who have worries about Ty Smith, who before his injury was in the conversation to be in the top three of Calder Trophy voting. The latest player who has people wondering if there’s a problem is Nico Hischier.

The captain has had the season from hell. While the whole team is suffering from problem after problem, Hischier’s issues take it to another level. It started with a fluke leg injury in offseason training which saw him miss the first few weeks of the season. Then, despite not being around anyone while working his way back from injury, he still became part of the COVID outbreak that derailed the entire team. Once he was finally back, a deflected slap shot hit him in the face.

Because of this, Hischier played 12 games this season. He’s been okay in those games, scoring four goals. He hasn’t been the distributor one might hope (he only has one assist), but his linemates haven’t exactly been consistent.

In his last game, he played with Pavel Zacha and Jesper Bratt, who are both coming off injuries of their own. If we are basing this on Zacha and Bratt’s play from earlier in this season, this line should dominate.

In the last game against the Pittsburgh Penguins, Hischier’s line was dominant statistically. They put up the three best CF% on the team, and Hischier himself put up a ridiculous 65.2 CF%. Unfortunately, at 5v5 they still have up a goal and failed to score one. Meanwhile, Hughes’ line was often hemmed in their own zone, but his line scored a goal while never saw a 5v5 goal against. It seems like Hughes’ bad luck has transferred to Hischier on the ice.

There’s nothing specific that’s going wrong for Hischier on the ice. He’s snake bitten with some things, and there is clearly frustration building, but nothing that’s happening this season feels like it will impact him long term. His speed is usually there. His shot is clearly there. There’s just a lot of bad luck happening, and he should pile on the points by the end of the season. Even if he doesn’t, this should not be a narrative going into the offseason. Nico will be fine, and our captain will be back to being a huge producer next season when things go back to normal.