Former Wild forward signs three-year extension in Winnipeg

Nino Niederreiter, the former Wild forward, signs three-year extension in Winnipeg

Nino Niederreiter played six seasons in Minnesota before he was traded to the Carolina Hurricanes in exchange for Victor Rask. 

The Wild acquired Niederreiter after they sent Cal Clutterbuck and a 2013 3rd-round pick to the New York Islanders in 2013. The Islanders drafted Niederreiter with the 5th overall pick in the 2010 draft.

But after only putting up two goals and three points in 64 games for the Islanders across two seasons, Chuck Fletcher and the Wild decided to take a chance on the young Switzerland forward. 

Niederreiter scored over 20 goals in three of his six seasons with the Wild and scored a huge overtime winning goal in game seven against the Colorado Avalanche during the 2014 playoffs. The Wild have made it to the second round that year and the next and have not been to the second round since, despite making the playoffs seven times in the last eight years.

The year the Wild didn't make the playoffs was the year Paul Fenton traded Niederreiter to the Hurricanes for Victor Rask in January of 2019. Niederreiter went on to record 69 goals and 137 points in 234 games with the Hurricanes across four seasons.

The 6-foot-2 forward signed a contract with the Nashville Predators after the Hurricanes let him go to free agency. Niederreiter was later traded to the Jets last season after playing 56 games with the Predators.

He has been with the Jets since and now has signed a three-year contract earning him $4 million AAV. 

Niederreiter recorded 110 goals and 228 points in 434 games with the Wild and has spent the majority of his career calling Minnesota home. He will now call Winnipeg his home for the next three years, four including this year, which is just about seven hours north of St. Paul.