New Jersey Devils: 3 Reasons Nico Hischier Becomes A Superstar This Season
The talk of the NHL town is the impending breakout that’s coming for New Jersey Devils center Jack Hughes. The predictions are high, with Mike Kelly of the NHL Network predicting that Hughes will score 70 points next season. After two underwhelming years for a first-overall pick, people have high hopes for the middle Hughes brother after an offseason’s worth of hype.
However, Nico Hischier should theoretically be the player more primed for a breakout season. Hughes obviously showed a lot more of a superstar quality last season, but it’s not like Hischier hasn’t had his share of superstar opportunities in the past. He was given credit for helping Taylor Hall‘s MVP season in his rookie year. He had awesome scoring rates last season.
Hischier had the season from Hell in 2021. It started with a broken leg in overseas training before training camp even started. Then, right when he was ready to return, he got COVID. He finally made it back on the ice on February 20th, but he was back on the sidelines one week later when P.K. Subban’s slap shot deflected into Hischier’s face. He would miss the next six weeks.
Hischier had to play the rest of the season with a cage over his face. Between the injuries and the lack of production (11 points in 21 games), not many people are talking about him before the season. The question becomes, should they be? Is Hischier finally ready for his breakout season? It seems like we’ve been waiting, but now that he’s the team captain, the expectations are that much higher. He needs to prove himself this year, and here are three reasons why he might be the player to watch in 2021-22.
1. The Talent Around Nico Hischier
Many are predicting a big Hughes year because of the talent that is now around him. Dougie Hamilton will really help him on the power play. Tomas Tatar gives him a legitimate winger. Yegor Sharangovich is one year old and one year better. Ryan Graves takes on a lot of the defensive responsibilities forwards had to take on the past few years.
However, all these positives could also help Hischier. Going into the season, the expectation is the Devils will keep him on a line with Jesper Bratt and Pavel Zacha, but what if the Devils make Zacha the third-line center? Then wouldn’t it make sense for Tatar to fall on that line and keep Janne Kuokkanen and Sharangovich with Hughes?
Hischier also will likely spend his time on the top power play unit. That means he is going to get the benefit of Hamilton on offense. Even if Lindy Ruff decides Hischier’s best place on the team is on the second power-play unit, that now consists of Ty Smith and Subban on the blue line. Either way, Hischier is getting more points from the power play.
Bratt also can’t have worse finishing stats than he had last season. He had 29 individual high-danger chances but only had three goals at 5v5. So, he scored on just over 10% of his individual high-danger chances. The season before, he scored on 34% of his high-danger chances. It’s very likely he bounces back this season.
2. A Little Injury Luck
If Hischier didn’t have bad luck last season, he would have no luck at all. We mentioned how often Hischier was hurt last season. He only played 21 games in the 56-game season. He also had to recover from COVID, play on a recently broken leg, learn to play with a face cage, and had to learn a new system under Lindy Ruff. There was no way it was going to work out.
Now, Hischier is fully healthy, and he is ready to put last season behind him. He had to push forward as this is his fifth season in the NHL. There are certain expectations at this point. Nobody is using the “bust” term with Hischier, but with players from his draft class like Elias Pettersson, Cale Makar, and Miro Heiskanen showing that they are already superstars, it’s time for Hischier to get into that tier.
There are no more excuses for Hischier. We used them all up last season. The Devils have had three straight seasons where they fell well below expectations. Hischier needed to live up to these expectations as the top center for his entire career. After losing his spot due to injury (ironic since that’s what happened to Travis Zajac), he has a chance to show why the Devils have two iconic centers down the middle, and not just Hughes and the other guy.
3. A Full Season In Lindy Ruff’s System
We got a glimpse of Lindy Ruff’s system last season, but he wasn’t able to really put it in place because of the COVID-19 pandemic. He had a shortened training camp, no offseason, and a rapid season that got even worse when the Devils faced an outbreak. There was no time to really put a brand new system in place, and that proved even more true for Alain Nasreddine’s penalty kill and Marc Recchi’s power play.
This season, the Devils have a full training camp and six preseason games to test out the new system. This is going to be fast, attacking, and (wait, have we been here before) tiring for the other team. It allows the Devils to get to loose pucks, and that creates more opportunities. Jack Hughes led the league in takeaways last season. That’s something Hischier has been GREAT at the past four years. He has 47 takeaways in his rookie season. He had 11 in 21 games last season (at 5v5). That number should go up.
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Hischier is someone who is looking to find the best play, and this system will get players open. His assist numbers were putrid last year, but this year he has more opportunities to make things happen. A fully healthy season under a relatively new regime as he’s now settled into his captain role means we’re predicting a major breakout season from Nico Hischier.