Like many of his teammates, Nico Hischier had the best season of his career in 2022-23. The young captain, selected first overall in the 2017 NHL Draft, set career highs in goals (31), assists (49) and points (80), leading him to a nomination for the Frank J. Selke Trophy awarded to the forward who best demonstrates the defensive component of the game in the NHL.
While Hischier’s numbers don’t scream potential Hart Trophy like his fellow teammate Jack Hughes, he is integral to the growth of the young core of this exciting hockey team in the Garden State. He’s an all-around hockey player and his leadership qualities are not often reflected on the score sheet. While he’s very unlikely to take home the hardware this summer, as it would be very difficult for the Professional Hockey Writers Association to vote for any player not named Patrice Bergeron, he’s poised to be in the conversation for many years. The New Jersey Devils are going to be a very good hockey team for a long time, and Hischier is only going to get better. At 24 years old, his best years are coming up.
Delivering in the Clutch
One of the intangibles a player in a leadership role generally has to exude is showing up at important times in games. There’s a quality over quantity aspect to examining a player’s importance to the overall success of the team they’re skating for. Hischier led the Devils in game-winning goals in the regular season with nine. Fans alike generally expect a first-overall draft pick to put up huge numbers, but the game isn’t just played on the scoresheet.
For Hischier to really cement himself as a premiere all-around forward in the league, personally I’d like to see him ranked first on his team in faceoff percentage (he was third) with a stronger plus/minus in the playoffs. A player who was plus-33 in the regular season but minus-9 in the postseason needs to take a step forward to be the standard of defensive forwards in the NHL. I certainly believe that will happen in the coming years as the Devils continue to grow into their potential, but it has to happen.
Challenging for the Selke
Everyone in the sports community knows that Bergeron is winning the Selke Trophy for the 2022-23 season, after captaining the Boston Bruins to a historic 135-point season. He is in the twilight of his career, a first-ballot Hall of Famer, and in my opinion, the modern-day version of Jean Beliveau. He has been nothing but class since entering the league in 2003-04.
With that being said, Bergeron won’t be in the NHL forever. If we’re lucky as hockey fans we’ll see him around for one more season. So moving forward, who are the players that Hischier will have to compete with to win his first Selke?
The Competition
We can certainly include his fellow nominee this year Mitch Marner of the Toronto Maple Leafs. The recently turned 26-year-old enjoyed a career year this season with 99 points, before running into Sergei Bobrovsky and the Florida Panthers in the second round of the playoffs. It’s fascinating to note that only one player for the Maple Leafs (Doug Gilmour) has ever won the Selke Trophy since it was first awarded after the 1977-78 season. We should expect that in the coming seasons, Marner will remain in the conversation to join Gilmour on the very short list of Leafs with NHL awards.
Elias Lindholm may have another shot at it. The Calgary Flames center finished second to Bergeron in 2021-22, following a season where the Flames finished first in the Pacific Division. The Flames stumbled this past year after the departures of Johnny Goudreau and Matthew Tkachuk. Changes are being made in Calgary, the firing of Darryl Sutter and promotion to head coach from assistant coach for Ryan Huska, can go either way. But if it works out, we could very likely have Lindholm back in the conversation next season.
The one player I think will challenge Hischier the most in the coming years is Florida Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov. The key for him is putting together a season of full health. He hasn’t appeared in more than 68 games in a season since 2018-19. The Panthers didn’t have a great regular season this past year, and Barkov hasn’t exactly created a reputation for himself as a clutch playoff performer historically. But we all saw what they did in the playoffs on their way to the Stanley Cup Final. This upcoming season could very well be the season that Barkov takes over the Selke Trophy conversation.
Hischier and the New Era
Hischier is two years younger than Marner, the closest player listed to him in age. I would argue that he is more integral to the success of his team than Marner and more of a heart and soul player. That’s because he has demonstrated all the tools to be an elite leader in the NHL for the Devils. At 24 years old, this isn’t the last we’ve seen of him being mentioned for the Selke Trophy. With Bergeron nearing retirement and solidifying his legacy as one of the all-time best two-way players in the game, the window will open for the younger complete players to challenge for it for years to come. A new era is upon the NHL for elite all-around forwards, and Hischier is poised to be the standard in the coming years.
