Regrets? Nino Niederreiter has a few.
The veteran Winnipeg Jets forward is set to return from a lengthy injury absence Monday night against the Seattle Kraken — and in doing so offered some revealing insight into the timeline of events surrounding his ailment.
Specifically, Niederreiter admitted he first began feeling discomfort in his knee last summer but chose to keep playing through it rather than shutting down for medical intervention.
Winnipeg Jets’ Nino Niederreiter returns to the lineup Monday night against the Seattle Kraken after a lengthy absence. (Karl DeBlaker / The Associated Press files)
The reasoning was twofold. First, the 33-year-old was closing in on 1,000 regular-season games and didn’t want to interrupt that pursuit — a milestone he ultimately reached in December. Second, he was hoping to represent Switzerland at the Winter Olympics in February and didn’t want to risk missing out.
“Absolutely. You nailed it. That was exactly what was going on,” Niederreiter told the Free Press when presented with that scenario.
“Starting the season I knew that I had to get 31 games in to get myself to play 1,000 games and then you are so close to the Olympics and try to grind that one through as well.”
Hockey is notorious for its team-first mentality, where individual pursuits are often parked in favour of the greater good. Yet Niederreiter almost seemed to be confessing to the opposite, which is sure to spark some debate given his level of play while he was in the lineup.
“There were stretches where it felt pretty good and there were stretches that weren’t as good. Eventually, I just needed to get (the surgery) done.”
To be blunt, Niederreiter looked like a player who wasn’t quite right during his first 55 games, in which he posted just 19 points (8G, 11A) while Winnipeg struggled. That stretch included an 11-game losing streak and a span where the Jets won just six times in 30 outings.
His play dipped to the point that head coach Scott Arniel made him a healthy scratch for one game — which, as it turns out, might have been better described as a “not-really-healthy-but-playing-anyway” scratch.
“I had problems with my knee the whole time,” Niederreiter said. “There were stretches where it felt pretty good and there were stretches that weren’t as good. Eventually, I just needed to get that done.”
That decision came immediately after he returned from the Olympics where he was also one of Switzerland’s flag bearers in the opening ceremonies, leading to arthroscopic surgery that cost him 20 games at a crucial time for the Jets.
Now, with the benefit of hindsight, Niederreiter admits both the timing and the optics weren’t ideal.
“After the whole recovery process now, I feel like maybe I should have done it before the season, and in the off-season kind of figuring out a way to deal with it,” Niederreiter said.
One of the reasons Niederreiter delayed medical intervention was his desire to represent Switzerland at the Winter Olympics where he was ultimately one of his country’s flag bearers in the opening ceremonies (above). (Natacha Pisarenko / The Associated Press files)
“But you never know how the outcome is going to be. So, I want to give myself the best chance possible to be a part of those two events and I wish I could have finished the season but I am glad I did eventually.”
On one hand, the approach is understandable. What if the recovery had taken longer than expected and cost him a chance to go to Italy? But there will no doubt be those who argue the situation ultimately hurt the team, especially given how the season has unfolded for the Jets.
Of course, the organization was well aware of the situation and allowed it to play out.
“I mean, we’re not telling a player, ‘You can’t play. You have to have surgery.’ That comes down to the player, his agent, the people closest to him,” Arniel said following Monday’s morning skate.
“It’s been something that’s been bugging him. But it’s a pretty big year with a lot of things going on. I think if he had a do-over, he might have gotten it done at the start of the year. That’s just me guessing. I’m not saying 100 per cent.”
When informed that Niederreiter had said exactly that, Arniel expanded on the mindset.
“At the end of the day, players think that they can play through it and hope that they can,” the coach continued.
“He went through stretches where it felt good. I remember talking to him, him saying how it felt good. But it doesn’t help when you have a schedule like how the league has the schedule, going into that Olympic break, you’re playing so many nights and it’s tough for recovery of those types of things.”
“The guys have kept us in it. They played good hockey, and I’m itching to get back and join them.”
What’s done is done. Now the focus shifts to the present and the immediate future.
Niederreiter hopes to quickly rediscover “the best version” of himself as he rejoins a team that went 11-5-4 in his absence and remains firmly in the playoff picture.
“I feel we have been playing faster and getting pucks more to the net,” he said. “I feel they have been playing with a lot of tenaciousness and doing whatever it takes to win.”
He isn’t the only one returning Monday. Good friend Vlad Namestnikov is also expected back in the lineup after missing 18 games with a lower-body injury suffered Feb. 27 in Anaheim following a collision with teammate Adam Lowry.
Like Niederreiter, Namestnikov has endured a difficult season, recording just 13 points (7G, 6A) in 57 games. That’s a notable dip for a player who, just one year ago, centred the second line on a Presidents’ Trophy-winning team.
Winnipeg Jets center Vladislav Namestnikov, returns to the ice after missing 18 games with a lower-body injury. (Nam Y. Huh / The Associated Press files)
“It’s the first time I’ve been out that long in my career, so it’s definitely something different,” he said prior to puck drop Monday. “But yeah, it’s all part of the game. Things like that happen. It’s kind of freak accident, so you got to go through it sometimes and just happy to be back.”
He said having Niederreiter, one of his best friends on the team, sidelined at the same time ultimately made the recovery process a bit less painful. As did seeing the Jets continue to stay in the playoff race.
“The guys have kept us in it. They played good hockey, and I’m itching to get back and join them,” he said.
Namestnikov and Niederreiter were put on a line together Monday along with rookie forward Brad Lambert, who should help them get up to speed — quite literally, considering his good wheels.
“Obviously this time of year, I know I keep saying it, it’s fast-moving water. It’s the pace of where the games are at. But these guys have helped us, they’ve got a history here,” said Arniel.
“We grinded them hard here in the last week, conditioning wise to get that part of it, make sure that’s up to where it needs to be. Now it’s just getting their touches and kind of getting used to, as the game goes on, getting a bit more comfortable for them.”
“They’re rested and ready to go and hungry. So we’re hoping that’s a spark for us.”
www.winnipegfreepress.com/mikemcintyre
Mike McIntyre is a sports reporter whose primary role is covering the Winnipeg Jets. After graduating from the Creative Communications program at Red River College in 1995, he spent two years gaining experience at the Winnipeg Sun before joining the Free Press in 1997, where he served on the crime and justice beat until 2016. Read more about Mike.
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