A Collection of Nico Hischier Content Over the Years | BLOG

As Nico Hischier hits 500 NHL games, look back at a collection of stories and videos on Hischier over the years!

Hischier's Role as a Leader Continues to Evolve

Original Release Date: August 28, 2024

Every year, when the NHL opens a new season, everyone starts with a blank slate. The wins and losses are all rebalanced to zero. The grind begins again. The thread is officially cut from one season to the next except for one fundamental thing that does thread from one season to the next.

What did you learn, and how will you use that going forward?

In a recent interview in his home canton of Valais, Devils captain Nico Hischier spoke with Hugo Da Custodia of Rhône FM radio where he explored some of those ideas.

At its very core, that is who Hischier is: grateful to be in his position and to have learned to grow as a human being from all he’s experienced.

“There are so many people who would want to be in my place,” he told Da Custodia, “I wake up every morning very aware of how privileged a position I am in. I’ll always do my best to help my team win games.”

He credits arriving in New Jersey at a young age, just 18, on a very different-looking team from the one he’s on today as an important part of his evolution as the team's current leader and captain.

“When I first arrived, my teammates were more or less close to their 30’s,” he shared, “Everything was also new for me. But it was good, I was able to learn an enormous amount being around those veteran players.”

Read the full story here!

Katja Hischier: Nico is Good to All

Original Release Date: November 25, 2024

Katja Hischier softly put her hand to her heart. She was just asked about her son, the captain of the New Jersey Devils, Nico.

“It’s very special,” she beamed.

Katja is as soft-spoken as he is and exudes a palpable joy when talking about the man her son has become since the first day he arrived in New Jersey in 2017. He was just 18 years old then, a fresh-faced kid, the bright NHL lights thrust upon him.

“He (left); he was a young boy, now he is an old man,” Katja laughed, thinking back on those early days.

In truth, 25 is not old, but Nico Hischier does have an old soul wisdom about him. He speaks with a knowledge and a certainty well beyond his years.

“It’s incredible, really incredible. I often think, ‘Is this Nico? My youngest? Wow. He speaks like an old man.'" Katja said whimsically.

But in all seriousness, as his mom sees it, this is still the same Nico he was as a young boy that she and her husband Rino raised from the start.

Read the full story here!

Rino Hischier Proud Beyond Words of Son Nico

Original Release Date: December 31, 2022

Living in Switzerland, most Devils games are played around 1 a.m. local time. Waking up for work at 6 a.m., Rino admits he's often asleep by 10 p.m., probably just as Nico is waking up from a pregame nap.

"In the morning, I wake up around 6 a.m. and I look at the scores online, some video for four or five minutes," Rino shared. And with that, Rino moves on with his day. When the two do catch up, it rarely is about hockey. Of course, it comes up, it's a big part of both their lives in different ways, but it's not part of the norm.

"My wife and I, we don't talk too much hockey with Nico," Rino said, "That was also when he was younger too, after the game, two or three words and then we discuss other things, not only hockey, hockey, hockey. He doesn't like it, Luca (Nico's older brother) is the same."

So much of the way Rino carries himself is familiar. You immediately understand where Nico's balance comes from. Talking with Rino Hischier affirms so much about what we've grown to know about Nico, they speak with sincerity, they speak with passion and authenticity, and they are above anything else good human beings with strong values.

Read the full story here!

BIG READ: Nico's Nature

Original Release Date: November 04, 2019

He can feel the stares he might get, sitting with friends in a restaurant or walking down the street. He's aware he draws attention - particularly in Switzerland. He says it's most notable in his small town of Naters, not far from the Matterhorn.

"I don't feel it all the time, but sometimes you know they're staring at you. It's obvious. Sometimes you're almost like 'should I go ask him if he wants a photo?'"

He doesn't mind. And he completely understands.

Nico just considers himself Nico.

"I try to always be like that person, from when I grew up in Switzerland," Hischier said.

He has a humble nature, one that you might not ascribe to such a successful athlete, the first of his kind in his home country.

The reality of it is, that Hischier commands the attention, particularly in Switzerland, because he became something no other Swiss hockey player has ever been: an NHL first-overall selection.

Read the full story here!

Watch and Read About Nico Hischier's First Hat Trick!

After being named the game's No. 1 star, Hischier did an on-ice interview while the fans chanted "Nico! Nico!"

"During my interview I was trying to take a second and soak it in a bit," he said. "It was awesome. It's a game I'll never forget in my life."

*Read the full Game Story here!*

Hynes Recalls Early Flashes of Hischier's Selke-Caliber Play

Original Release Date: December 01, 2022

The first thing John Hynes knew about Nico Hischier was that he was an outstanding hockey talent.

After he was drafted first overall in 2017, Hynes immediately recognized the Devils organization wasn't just getting an extraordinary hockey player. But first and foremost, they were getting an extraordinary human being.

"Right off the bat, you just realize how great of an upbringing he had, quality people," Hynes said in an exclusive interview. "And you know, that was, still today, I still remember, like you had the feeling like, you got to a player that's come from a great upbringing, but you could tell how much of a quality person he was."

Then came hockey.

"What jumped out was his agility, his speed, and his competitiveness," Hynes explained, "But at the same time, it was the style of his that he played, he's a really good offensive player, but his defensive conscience, his understanding as a centerman, understanding and being able to handle the responsibilities (...) for a young guy, his game was pretty complete."

Read the full story here!

Hischier: Federer a 'Really Great Example'

Original Release Date: September 24, 2022

If Federer, who played his final professional match Friday night, has a fan in Hischier, the feeling is mutual.

"We're very happy in Switzerland that we have such a great hockey player in the starting blocks who is hopefully going to be a great, great player," Federer said at the 2017 U.S. Open. "Hope he stays healthy. I'm only hearing great things about him. He's a good guy. Unbelievably talented. People predict a great future ahead of him."

Having seen first-hand the way Hischier interacts with fans, takes the time for all those waiting in line to meet him, it's as if he is describing his own experience with Federer from the eyes of fans who are waiting for Hischier.

"(He's a) really great example. I feel like he does everything right," Hischier said. "It seems like nobody's perfect, but I always say, if somebody is perfect, it's definitely him."

Read the full story here!

Patrick Fischer: Hischier Will 'Impact Generations'

Original Release Date: August 01, 2022

The Swiss National Team Head Coach also shares his thoughts on Devils long-term commitment to Jonas Siegenthaler

"Are you ready for this?"

That was the question that Patrick Fischer, the Swiss national team head coach asked Nico Hischier. Fischer felt the national team was at a point where there were thoughts about a change in the leadership that could be on the horizon.

There is the weight of carrying a National Hockey League club as a captain, and then there is the weight of representing and carrying the captaincy for an entire nation. Fischer didn't take his decision-making lightly, but he had his player in mind.

"You know, it's representing a country as a captain, and is he up for the challenge and obviously, well accepted by the guys around and this core group we know we call it, in the group we have made a drastic change. And now he's a leader of this new leadership group within us, the country."

Read the full story here!

Hischier: The Double-Drafted Devil

Original Release Date: July 19, 2021

Nico Hischier was chosen first overall by the Devils in the 2017 National Hockey League Draft.

If he thought that would be the only time he'd be drafted, the young center was sadly mistaken.

Just two years later the extremely gifted forward was drafted a second time - only in 2019 it was the Swiss Army that chose him, among other pro athletes native to the Alpine nation.

This was during the 2019-20 pandemic-shortened campaign when Hischier was ordered home to complete his mandatory military service.

Read the full story here!

Hischier Showed Leadership Mettle as Captain

Original Release Date: May 25, 2021

Devils management sat together in a room with all eyes fixated on the 18-year-old center at the end of the table. New Jersey had won the NHL's Draft Lottery and earned the right to select No. 1-overall in the forthcoming 2017 NHL Draft.

One of the team's prospective selections was Swiss-born Nico Hischier. The Devils brass sat down with him for an interview to see his personality and how he might fit with the team ahead of making their decision on whom to draft.

The Devils came away from that meeting impressed with his maturity, particularly stemming from the answer he gave in regard to his leadership style.

"I'm more of a leader with action. I like to do the action (so) that others can follow me," said the youth. "Going to war with brothers, with the team, that's what I like about hockey. It's a team sport."

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