Nino Niederreiter

Last Season

Eight goals and 19 points in 61 games, minus-seven, on under fourteen minutes a night. He has scored twenty-four in a season; this was not close, and the decline has been steady for three years.

The Finesse Game

Modest and always was, though he scored more than the reputation suggests — 248 goals in 1,030 games, nearly all of them from within fifteen feet. He tips pucks, finishes rebounds, and shoots quickly from the slot when the chance arrives.

He does not create for others and never has. Eighty-four shots in sixty-one games is a low rate for a player whose whole offensive game is volume around the net.

The Physical Game

Six-two and 218, and this is what has lasted. He forechecks heavily, is genuinely hard to move off a puck along the wall, and plays a physical game without taking many penalties.

The skating has slowed noticeably, which is why the ice time has come down.

The Intangibles

A fifth overall pick who did not become a star and turned into something durable instead — fifteen years, five organisations, and a reputation as a good teammate in each.

He is thirty-four. The body still works; the finishing has gone, and a bottom-six winger who cannot score is replaceable by anyone with legs.