The injury bug has been an ongoing nuisance for the New Jersey Devils for the past few seasons. One player that always to seems to get plagued by it is their captain, Nico Hischier. For the past few seasons, HIschier suffered multiple injuries that made him sit out long-term. He recently sustained another injury in which fans and the team feared he will be out long-term again. Thankfully, Hischier was able to play and significantly contribute to the Devils’ huge 3-1 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets.
There were some people who called Hischier “Captain Soft” in reference to being injured very frequently. To be blunt, Nico Hischier is far from soft. Even though he sustained multiple injuries throughout his career, it does not mean his body will continue to get broken.
Most of the injuries he sustained were either from unfortunate collisions with players, puck bounces, or taking one for the team by blocking shots. Hischier’s most recent injury came from blocking a shot from legendary scorer Alexander Ovechkin. Getting injured due to blocking a shot does not make someone soft. Rather, it shows that player does what it takes to help their team win.
Hischier puts everything on the line to help his team win, whether he contributes on the scoresheet, excels on the defensive end (including block shots), and does the little things right. He will even put his body in the way of pucks coming from players who are known to have formidable shots to help his team win. This is what a leader of a team looks like and it does not make him soft if he gets injured as a result of it.
To summarize, Hischier is far from deserving the name “Captain Soft.” It is true that he has been injured a lot in his young career; however, most of these injuries were not preventable via conditioning in the first place (ex. blunt force trauma). Hischier has done a great job as captain of this young Devils team so far even though this is just his fifth season in the NHL. He truly is leading by example and it has been helping this team turn around even in his absence (their gutsy effort against the Boston Bruins). Instead of calling him “Captain Soft,” call him “Captain Swiss-Army-Knife.”
What is your opinion of how Nico is doing as a captain and as a player so far this season? Is he really soft? Please feel free to leave a comment below and let’s get a discussion going.