Hurricanes’ Niederreiter proves versatility in helping shut down Bruins’ top players
As this series shifts back to Boston, the Carolina Hurricanes will once again be without what has become their biggest weapon. The ability of Jordan Staal, Jesper Fast and Nino Niederreiter to turn the Bruins from a one-line team into a none-line team has been the determining factor in all five games so far.
At home, where the Hurricanes can get that fivesome — the forward trio ably and primarily assisted by Brett Pesce and Brady Skjei — out against Patrice Bergeron, Brad Marchand and either David Pastrnak or Jake DeBrusk, the Bruins have been completely stymied. On the road, where the Bruins can use the last change to pick that group’s spots, the Hurricanes have had a tougher time.
They’ve got one more chance to figure it out in Boston, with a chance to close the Bruins out in Game 6 on Thursday night.
There’s very little surprising about Staal assuming that role. Perennially overlooked for the Selke Trophy that goes to the NHL’s best defensive forward, Staal is a versatile two-way center who plays the way his coach once did, only bigger (if not stronger).
Nor is there anything shocking about Fast excelling in the job. He’s also overlooked around the NHL for his relentlessly efficient play, but not among his teammates. Both with the Hurricanes and New York Rangers, Fast has been chosen annually as the winner of whatever award is decided by a player vote. Whether on the forecheck or on defense, he’s a disruptive dynamo.
Niederreiter’s the odd man in on this line that’s as reliable as traffic and weather together on the 1s: 21, 11 and 71 . A high-powered, goal-scoring power forward for much of his career, Niederreiter has never struggled at the defensive end but has perhaps at times had higher priorities. There are a lot of players who can play a 200-foot game; few have Niederreiter’s ability to protect the puck or his finishing touch. The latter often takes precedence. It does not right now.
“It’s definitely been a different game for me,” Niederreiter said. “I’ve been enjoying it a lot. The more you play with certain guys, the more chemistry you build. That’s been the case. Almost all year I’ve been playing with Jordo and Fast and I know exactly what I get from them. We talk a lot on the ice and off the ice about what we can do to produce and not just shut down other team’s top lines. I think that’s clicked for us.”
But it’s the defense, the shutting down, that’s truly exceptional — highlighted by the Hurricanes’ difficulty against Bergeron et al when they can’t get the Staal line out against them. Each of the three forwards brings a different element to the trio: Staal’s range and wingspan, Fast’s savvy and indefatigable hustle, Niederreiter’s combination of size and skill.
“He’s a big body,” Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “I think that helps take the blows. He eats the pucks. I think that helps in the offensive zone. We know he’s got a scoring touch. That helps with those guys. That may not be what they’re known for, but Nino has a little flair around the net.”
This isn’t exactly a new dimension to Niederreiter’s game, but he’s also never been asked to play quite this role — and earlier in his career, when he was just finding his way in the NHL, when goals were the currency of success, he could hardly imagine it: “It’s definitely a long way since then,” Nieddereiter said.
Some Swiss people speak five or more languages routinely. Niederreiter says he actually speaks only two well, English and German. Niederreiter learned Italian in school and grew up in a Romansh-speaking area, but so close to the German border that he essentially grew up bilingual instead of pentalingual.
As a player, as he enters the waning half of his career, the 29-year-old Niederreiter has become fluent in yet another style of play. A streaky finisher who can put some muscle behind it has recast himself as a two-way shutdown winger.
Niederreiter was always an analytics darling during his time in Minnesota, controlling possession whether he was scoring or not, playing on the top line when he was hot, drawing checking duty with current Bruins opponent Charlie Coyle when not. He’s kind of doing both simultaneously now, and bringing an offensive element his linemates do not.
“He plays the right way,” Fast said. “He’s hard on the pucks. He can hold onto it, he’s a big boy. He helps us because he plays the same way.”
This is, in some ways, a natural and ongoing and continuing evolution of his game, the rounding out of a veteran player, filling in the gaps. Times change. People grow. In this case, the evolution could potentially prolong Niederreiter’s time in Carolina.
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A free agent this offseason, his value on the open market as a 24-goal-scorer probably exceeds what the Hurricanes can or would pay for Niederreiter at this point in his career. But with this new versatility and mentality, there may be more room to bring him back, especially on a contract that declines in value, making him easier to trade in the second or third year if his performance tails off.
That isn’t on anyone’s minds right now, not with the imperative to flip the script on the Bruins in Boston. Whether the 1s get much of a chance against the Bruins’ No. 1 line or not, their real strength is that their role and mentality never change — and all three have bought into that equally.
“We try to lead by example and go out the right way,” Niederreiter said. “I know the goals we score are not the prettiest ones but they count the same.”
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This story was originally published May 12, 2022 at 5:56 AM.
