Following His Lead | FEATURE

Jesper Bratt would know best. He’s been there since Day 1.

“He’s the driving train for this team. He’s the identity of what this team is about.”

He’s talking about his captain, Nico Hischier. The two have been together since their first day of training camp in 2017, and Bratt has had a front-row seat to his captain's evolution.

None of it comes as a surprise.

“You could see those tendencies right from the start,” Bratt said, recalling their first training camp together. “He was so humble, such a great person, and a really hard-working guy right from the start. You saw that he just loved being around the guys, wanted the best and he really cared for everyone in the room. And I think that’s what makes him such a great leader; he wants this team to (succeed) and wants everyone to bring their A-game, too.”

Everyone's A-game comes in different shapes and different forms. Nico's is all-encompassing.

The 26-year-old bears a ton of responsibility. Head coach Sheldon Keefe knew, of course, about Hischier’s abilities as an opposing coach, but this season, his first with New Jersey, he has come to appreciate the team captain on a whole new level.

He’s relied on Hischier to do it all.

“I’ve just been so impressed by him and how he’s performed this year,” Keefe said. “I don’t know if I’ve given him an easy shift this season. He gets the hardest assignments every night (…) and to still contribute and produce the way that he has offensively with all those defensive assignments to me, he has helped make up a much-improved defensive team and an anchor for us that way. It’s been a tremendous season.”

Hischier has often been described as a ‘quiet leader.’ While this may be true, it also gives his voice immense weight. He leads by example in how he approaches each day and each game, expecting the same from his teammates. However, when something needs to be said, he speaks up, and his teammates pay attention.

“You know that Nico brings it every day and if you want to be a part of it you’ve got to follow it," Bratt said. "When a player like that, who always shows what needs to be done, then maybe realizes the group isn’t following and then he steps up and says something, I mean, he’s so respected in the group that we all listen and we all know that when Nico stands up to say something it’s usually that it’s gone maybe a little too far and he hasn’t gotten guys to follow his lead. I think that’s pretty unique.”

Defenseman Brenden Dillon, who is in his first year in New Jersey and a 13-year NHL veteran and part of the Devils leadership group, sees it, too.

“He’s confident enough to speak up in a room in a team environment when it’s necessary to,” he said. “I think those are the best kinds of communication when it’s not just every day, and it gets repetitive. When he does speak, everyone is listening, everyone respects him throughout the lineup and locker room.”

Timo Meier first played against Hischier, two years his junior, back home in Switzerland as a U20 player. Meier has a perspective others might not, having known and seen Hischier for as long as he has.

“The way he holds himself off the ice, the way he leads in his own way, staying true to the person that he is, that’s very special,” Meier said.

Hischier is a special player. He is in the midst of a career year in goal scoring, with 35 and counting. He is relied upon to take every important draw; his 1,688 faceoffs are second in the league, only behind Pittsburgh’s captain Sidney Crosby, with 232 of those occurring in the critical defensive zone. He is the first over the boards for a power play, the first for a penalty kill, whether down a goal or defending a lead. Whenever his No. 13 is called on the bench, Hischier is ready. If you are fortunate enough to be his linemate through it all, lucky you.

"He’s such a unique player, so good defensively and I think a lot of people recognize how really good he is defensively and how hard he is to play against," Bratt shared. "But I think people finally start realizing that he really has that offensive skill, he’s a goal scorer, he’s so easy to play with, you always know where he is on the ice, he’s got great skill, great speed, great puck handling. He’s got a really good shot. He’s such a great player; you don’t come across players like that often.”

He does all these things while also bearing the responsibility of his captaincy.

"I think the highest compliment you can give someone in our game is that everybody wants to play with him," Dillon offered. "Everybody wants to be with him. I think if you ask any of the forwards, everybody loves playing with him; his ability to complement everyone's style of game, he’s just a complete player."

As the Devils inch closer to clinching a playoff spot, they continue to follow the lead of their captain. In this final stretch of the regular season, Hischier has put up seventeen points in his last twelve games, one of those big-game players stepping up in big-game moments. None of it comes as a surprise in the Devils' locker room. He is so highly regarded.

He's neither flashy nor loud; he simply goes out and does his job. Those who know Nico know how special a player he is. Whether this is sufficiently acknowledged by outsiders remains debatable, but there is no debate from those closest to him.

“That’s the thing about Nico, I don’t think he cares," Meier said. "He’s the kind of guy, for him, he wants to be as good as possible for the team, that’s what’s important for him. We definitely know, the guys in here, every guy that’s worked with him and guys that play against him definitely feel that too. For us he’s such an important player, we’re just really happy he’s on our side.”

"I hope (his play) gets the league-wide recognition that it deserves," Keefe added. "It certainly isn’t lost on me what he provides us.”

"All the little things that he does, most of the time, they lead to goals, but even if they’re not, he does them so well, and he’s so underrated how good he actually is.”

For all that he does for this team, perhaps Dillon summarized it best: "He’s my Selke winner.”