Nino Niederreiter

History

2008-09: Nino Niederreiter played for the HC Davos club in Switzerland, both the Under-18 and Under-20 clubs.  For the Davos club in the Under-18 Swiss Elite Novizen, Niederreiter scored 6 goals and added 6 assists for 12 points in 6 games.  He moved up to the Under-20 Elite Jr. A club, where he scored 20 goals and added 14 assists for 34 points in 30 games.  Niederreiter also chipped in 44 penalty minutes.  Niederreiter played in 3 playoff games for the top HC Davos club, picking up 1 assist in those games.  He starred for the Swiss entry at the Under-18 WJC, scoring 3 goals and chipping 3 assists in 6 games.  Drafted second overall by the Portland Winterhawks at the 2009 CHL Import Draft.

2009-10: Niederreiter came to North America and played his WHL rookie season for the Portland Winterhawks. He scored 36 goals and added 24 assists for 60 points in 65 games, while adding 68 penalty minutes to his totals.  Niederreiter plyed in 13 playoff games for the Winterhawks, scoring 8 goals and 8 assists for 16 points.  He was outstanding for Switzerland at the 2010 World Junior Championships, scoring 6 goals and adding 4 assists for 10 points in 7 games.  Played for Team Orr at the 2010 CHL Top Prospects Game, scoring the first goal of the game in that contest.  Named to the 2009-10 WHL Western Conference's Second Team.

2010-11: Niederreiter made his NHL debut with the Islanders as an 18-year-old before New York sent him back to his junior team – the WHL's Portland Winterhawks. In nine games with the Islanders he scored his first career goal, had 1 assist and was -1 with 8 PMs. After a so-so first half of the season with the Winterhawks, Nieddereiter exploded in the second half following the World Junior U-20 championship. In 55 games with Portland he scored 41 goals with 29 assists and was +28 with 67 PMs. Niederreiter scored 12 of his 41 goals on the power play as Portland finished first in the United States Division. The Winterhawks reached the playoff finals before falling to Kootenay and in 21 playoff games Niederreiter scored 9 goals with 18 assists and was +5 with 30 PMs. In the mid-season WJC tournament, he scored 2 goals with 2 assists and was -1 with 12 PMs in six games for his native Switzerland.

2011-12: Niederrieter played 55 games for the Islanders as a 19-year-old rookie. Playing mostly in a fourth-line role – and averaging 10 minutes of ice time per game – he scored his only goal of the year in a December game against Chicago (it was his only point of the season). Niederreiter was minus-29 and had 12 penalty minutes. He played six games for the AHL's Bridgeport Sound Tigers, scoring 3 goals with 1 assist. He represented Switzerland in the 2012 IIHF World Championship and was minus-five with no points and 2 penalty minutes in six games for Switzerland.

 

Talent Analysis

Good size and skill.  Niederreiter is well developed physically and excels in big games.  Rates very high on sheer skill, determination and personality.

 

Future

Niederreiter is playing for Bridgeport of the AHL in 2012-13.