El Nino
The Trade is still one for one Minessota, and no, you cannot have him back. Nino Niederreiter came over to Carolina last year in a trade for Victor Rask and never looked back. Last year saw him play on the top lines with Aho and Terravainen, helping propel the team towards a deep playoff run.
This year has been a different story. He sunk back down the lineup and hasn’t really been feeling himself. With only 11 goals and 18 assists, Nino has been playing under his own levels.
Now granted, this has more to do with puck luck than skill or effort. Both are shown every game on the ice. The redemption here is from lady luck herself. A bit of patience and allowing the other guy to make a mistake will go a long way for Nino to get his scoring back up and be the man that had fans last season going ” Victor who?”
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It’s not going to be an easy climb back up for Nino. He, Foegele, and McGinn are all competing to round out the top six. But competition is good. Even if they all compete hard and push, we might get a situation of having up to nine players who are playing well enough to get top-six minutes.
This may seem like a conundrum, but why shouldn’t the Carolina Hurricanes have one of the most lethal offenses the NHL has ever seen this season?
We really won’t see any of this come to fruition until the season returns. That could be as soon as next month or the month after. Depending on how this pandemic plays out and when it can be safe to return to a sense of normalcy.
Question for CC Readers: Which player here has the best opportunity to break into the top six?