Player Discussion Nino "El Nino" Niederreiter II

[57special]

I guess I haven't noticed him being appreciably worse in his own end than most of the other forwards, but I haven't been looking for it either. And I don't think I'd call him a great defensive player; he's an okay defensive player and a great possession player. His biggest contribution to defense is keeping the puck in the offensive zone.

Now THAT I agree with. Love the work he does keeping the puck in the Ozone. He has yet to average more than 16 minutes TOI in a season. Surely he should be getting more, especially with the new, not very good additions up front in Ennis, Winnik, Foligno, and Cullen?

 

[Bazeek]

Now THAT I agree with. Love the work he does keeping the puck in the Ozone. He has yet to average more than 16 minutes TOI in a season. Surely he should be getting more, especially with the new, not very additions up front in Ennis, Winnik, Foligno, and Cullen?

I was wondering if it didn't have to do with recovering from the injury. He hit the ground running pretty well coming back from a high-ankle sprain, but maybe he's still adjusting? I dunno.

 

[2Pair]

He's 3rd in TOI among wingers behind Granlund and Zucker. Right where he should be. His overall number is lower than it should be because Boudreau is using his bottom 6 a lot more than most guys would in his situation. Years past can be explained by simply saying Parise.

 

[ThatGuy22]

I keep hearing he is a great defensive player, but I don't see it. Don't get me wrong, I love having his scoring touch, size, and feistiness on the team, but he can be a bit careless with the puck leaving the zone. Nothing terrible, but it's there. Also, for a guy who is supposedly a great all round player he sure doesn't get comeasurate TOI. Maybe the coaches have the same reservations i do about some of his play?

I'd suspect that's just a case of negativity bias myself, those few turn overs stick out and you forget the 10 times for each turnover he excutes the play perfectly and the Wild break out of the zone.

Otherwise, it would be asking me to believe it's a coincidence that Nino has led the team in CA/60 and xGA/60 for 4 straight years, without particularly favorable zone starts and highly variable linemates by coincidence. I don't think he's particularly elite on one on one defense by any means, which is why he doesn't PK. But I do think that if you collected video of every attempted breakout pass to him or board battle at the blue line he's had over the past 4 years, you'd see him doing the exact right thing 19 out of 20 times. Which is why he's got ridiculous underlying numbers year after year.

No one remembers those though, unless they lead to a goal.

 

[57special]

Actually, i DO remember things like that. That's one reason that I'm a Brodin fan...he does little things that i love to watch. You can sometimes look at a sport like hockey (or soccer) as a series of individual battles. The better players win those battles.

 

[Uberdachen]

I keep hearing he is a great defensive player, but I don't see it. Don't get me wrong, I love having his scoring touch, size, and feistiness on the team, but he can be a bit careless with the puck leaving the zone. Nothing terrible, but it's there. Also, for a guy who is supposedly a great all round player he sure doesn't get comeasurate TOI. Maybe the coaches have the same reservations i do about some of his play?

His sudden appearance in great defensive player discussions is 100% from fancy stats, which will lead to more intense scrutiny on his defensive play, which won't hold up to the fancy stats that were being given different meaning than they actually have.

 

[Wabit]

His sudden appearance in great defensive player discussions is 100% from fancy stats, which will lead to more intense scrutiny on his defensive play, which won't hold up to the fancy stats that were being given different meaning than they actually have.

He's a very good possession player, and an okay defensive wing. The advanced stats aren't really great at differentiating between the two things.

 

[Al Lagoon]

Just glad he got the long term deal - bedrock player.

 

[Uberdachen]

Any word on this dude's injury?

 

[Wild11MN]

Any word on this dude's injury?

Russo said he wasn't on the ice this morning. I think that's all we know at this point since hearing he was in a walking boot.

 

[Wabit]

Looks like he's out for the Pred's games this weekend. Maybe sometime next week.

No Nino
Nino Niederreiter did not take the ice with teammates Thursday morning and will not play in either game against the Predators, Boudreau said. Niederreiter sustained a lower-body injury on Dec. 22 against the Florida Panthers and left the game in the first period.
"From what I gather, he's skating tomorrow," Boudreau said. "He's out this weekend, but hopefully at some point next week we'll get him back."

 

[Wabit]

Niederreiter could return Thursday
Nino Niederreiter, injured in Florida before the Christmas break, could return to game action on Thursday when Minnesota hosts Buffalo.
Like Parise, Niederreiter has been skating in recent days. He wasn't on the ice on Monday, but is expected to take part in morning skate on Tuesday and in practice on Wednesday.
If all goes well, he should play against the Sabres.
"Nino could use a practice, too," Boudreau said. "I don't like putting two guys in the lineup that have been out of for a while at the same time. So you usually stagger them."

From Wild website.

 

[Al Lagoon]

Man, it will be great to have all our best forwards back on the ice. We will finally see if this team is worth a damn.

 

[Wabit]

Nino team shots for heat maps are insane.

I'd say he's a big part of the team's offense.

 

[57special]

Man, it will be great to have all our best forwards back on the ice. We will finally see if this team is worth a damn.

We have to give them time to get their games back, especially Parise. It took Spurgeon 3-4 games before he started to be himself, and he was out for a fraction of the time.

 

[NHL1674]

So, did Nino get a new injury after coming back, or did he come back when he wasn't fully ready to? Because our medical staff has made that mistake one too many times. If he's been limping as badly as Russo suggests, then why the hell did they let him play only to make it worse?

 

[dBoon]

So, did Nino get a new injury after coming back, or did he come back when he wasn't fully ready to? Because our medical staff has made that mistake one too many times. If he's been limping as badly as Russo suggests, then why the hell did they let him play only to make it worse?

Russo reported that it was the same ankle. Good question.

 

[Wabit]

I wouldn't be surprised if he aggravated or re-injured it against Col; that was a physical/chippy game. I think he went down funny around the net front at some point during the game.

Speaking from some experience with a bad ankle. The more physically tired I am. the more I limp, even if I did nothing to bother it at all during the day. I dunno if that's the case with Nino, but it could be part of it at least.

 

[PuckInTheNards]

Any update on Nino? Missed the game last night but the box indicates he didn't play.

 

[Bazeek]

Any update on Nino? Missed the game last night but the box indicates he didn't play.

Expected to practice tomorrow and play in Vegas on Friday. I guess they weren't kidding about high ankle sprains being no joke, though.

 

[Bazeek]

I take that back, practice is today and he appears to be there.



The "Staal missing" seems to be a maintenance day.

 

[Dee Oh Cee]

Wonder if the Staal hip will be something the rest of the season.

 

[SomethingGeneric]

Sounds like he's just been sluggish lately and they are going to try to find more off days for him. Not super worried about the hip yet. Fingers crossed.

 

[57special]

I still think that hockey teams should do what Poppovich does in the NBA, and give some of their key, older players the odd game off during the season. Resting those old legs once in a while really makes a difference.

 

[ThatGuy22]

I still think that hockey teams should do what Poppovich does in the NBA, and give some of their key, older players the odd game off during the season. Resting those old legs once in a while really makes a difference.

Doesn't seem practical with the Loser point. With 3 wins(6 points) seperating 3rd in the West from 11th, no coach is going to rest his 1C voluntarily handicapping themselves from getting those two points(especially with the number of points the Wild players seem to throw away by not showing up).

San Antonio is in 3rd in the NBA West, they are 9 wins up on the 9th place team. A bad skid isn't going to hurt them like it does in the NHL.