Written by Nicolas Hallett
As we all know, actions speak louder than words.
Nino Niederreiter's first career hat trick against the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday night demonstrated a loud and clear a message that can be deciphered into words: he’s the future of the Minnesota Wild’s offense.
Looking at Minnesota's statistics, one number speaks boldly, too. Proven goal scorers Zach Parise, Jason Pominville and Thomas Vanek have been acquired by the Wild in recent times with a pointed objective — to lead the line when it comes to lighting the lamp. Yet it’s the 22-year-old Niederreiter whose seven goals now lead the team.
Niederreiter’s proved to be the Wild’s most potent goal poacher thus far this season despite ranking seventh among forwards in ice time with a little less than 14 minutes per game. The Switzerland international has played the majority of his minutes this season on the third line.
With Parise out with a concussion, Niederreiter played on the Wild’s second line against Buffalo – alongside Mikael Granlund and Charlie Coyle – and was on the ice for 18:32.
"I definitely had a lot of chances," he said. "I felt like our line was clicking well."
Niederreiter is the second-youngest player in Wild history to nab a hat trick, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. Marian Gaborik is the youngest to score three goals in one game for Minnesota at age 19.
And in truth, it could be argued that the Wild have never replaced the Slovakian sniper.
But when taken all together, "El Niño" has all the tools you look for in a franchise goal-getter.
The former No. 5 overall pick has a heavy shot, speed, stick-handling, physical prowess and, above all, brazen confidence. The latter is arguably of most importance for the role of go-to man. Niederreiter exemplified this best with his iconic Game 7 game-winning goal against the Colorado Avalanche in last year's playoffs.
In many ways he is Alex Ovechkin lite. Niederreiter, instead, says he modeled his game after another Russian superstar.
"My favorite player growing up was always [Ilya] Kovalchuck," he said. "He always had a hell of a shot and was so big, very shifty and was a big goal scorer. That's definitely someone I kind of look up to."
Niederreiter labels himself as a power forward while also "trying to be a goal scorer." He says his goal is to eventually be an offensive force in the NHL.
"I'm trying to work on that everyday," he said. "That's definitely the goal."
With some veterans struggling with injuries and others with form, Niederreiter could be vaulted into the talisman role sooner rather than later.