Carolina Hurricanes: Nino Niederreiter’s Outlook for 2019-20

Nino Niederreiter was a huge part of the Carolina Hurricanes surge toward the playoffs. What should we expect from him in his first full season in Raleigh?

Nino Niederreiter was more than likely the biggest steal in the NHL last season. The Carolina Hurricanes absolutely fleeced the Minnesota Wild, somehow getting rid of Victor Rask’s dreadful contract in exchange for Nino Niederreiter. This move was enough to drive the Hurricanes forward to eventually getting their first playoff berth since 2009. It made Don Waddell confident enough to stay quiet at the deadline.

Niederreiter was a player that seemed to need a fresh start on a new team. He got exactly that with Carolina, and he wasted little time showing how much a force he can be with the Hurricanes’ offense. He scored five goals in his first five games in a Hurricane uniform. That’s worth noting, because that is more than Rask had for the entire season (three goals).

He came over from Minnesota with nine goals and 14 assists with a plus/minus of -11. While with the Hurricanes, Niederreiter totaled 14 goals and 16 assists with a plus/minus of plus-7. He did all of this in 10 fewer games played for the Carolina Hurricanes.

What should we expect from Nino Niederreiter in the 2019-20 season?

We should expect more of the same. Niederreiter fit in perfectly on the Hurricanes, and thrived with players like Sebastian Aho, Justin Williams, and Teuvo Teravainen. Niederreiter found success early because of his willingness to play in the slot and in front of the net in order to get some goals in dirty areas. When players like Aho and Teravainen create to get pucks on net, Niederreiter seems to be in the right spot, more often than not, to put home loose pucks.

Niederreiter finished the 2018-19 season with 23 goals and should see that number increase. He will now have a full offseason of work with Rod Brind’Amour and this should help him better fit into the system with time rather than doing it on the fly like last season. Although Nino had success last season, there were some scoring droughts that came with it. Expect Niederreiter to tie or break his career high in goals next season with 25 plus.

Although his tenure with Carolina has been off to a great start, that doesn’t mean there aren’t things he needs to improve on. Niederreiter was nearly nonexistent in the 2019 Stanley Cup playoffs. In 15 games played, he only scored one goal and collected three assists. That was tied for thirteenth on the Hurricanes, behind the likes of Lucas Wallmark, Brock McGinn, and Brett Pesce. Although these players do things necessary for the Hurricanes, this isn’t a knock on them; rather, showing that Niederreiter is more offensively gifted than these three players.

A possible explanation for the decline in his goal scoring output could be the drastic decrease in his shooting percentage from the regular season to the playoffs. In the regular season, his shooting percentage was 13.6 percent, just including his time with Carolina. In the playoffs, that dipped to 3.6 percent. Meaning he only scored a goal in the playoffs on 3.6 percent of his shots (one goal in 28 shots). This means the quality of his chances were greatly reduced in the playoffs.

His postseason wasn’t an ideal one for a player of his caliber, but with the future the Carolina Hurricanes have, he could have a shot to redeem himself with a quality performance in the playoffs. Niederreiter just needs to do what he did in the regular season: relax and play to his strengths.

The oddsmakers haven’t been kind to the Carolina Hurricanes in terms of odds to win the Stanley Cup, despite making the Eastern Conference final and improving quite a bit in the offseason. The Hurricanes will be back in the playoffs and expect Niederreiter to get six to eight goals in the 2020 version of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

The Carolina Hurricanes flipped a bad contract for a top-six forward that was huge in getting the Hurricanes to the playoffs. Nino Niederreiter should see steady improvement in his game in Carolina and the results will show next season.

Question for CC Readers: Do you think Nino Niederreiter will break his career high in goal scoring next season?