El Nino is threatening to wreck the Portland Winterhawks championship aspirations.
The Portland Winterhawks turned a corner last season, but their championship aspirations could be on the verge of taking a huge hit.
The Winterhawks are one of a few junior teams remaining in a wait-and-see period as to whether their star will return. Portland is without forward Nino Niederreiter, the fifth-overall pick in last summer’s draft, and as head coach and general manager Mike Johnston indicated, that loss could be devastating.
"It’s a big hit to a program at our level because we lost some pretty good players last year," he said. "You lose a 36-goal scorer on your roster, especially a 17-year-old who scored 36 goals. You may project he’s going to get 40 goals and that’s a lot of goals for a team to have."
The Islanders supposedly covet that scoring, too. Since Niederreiter was drafted from a Canadian Hockey League team, his only options are New York or Portland. The Islanders have been prone to playing their first pick in recent years, as the team surprisingly held on to Josh Bailey as a 19-year-old two years ago.
The option to send Niederreiter back to junior becomes more viable depending on ice time.
"If he can get good minutes, he’s going to stay (with the Islanders) and if not, they will look at probably returning him," Johnston said. "They’re not going to keep him in a third- or fourth-line role where he plays limited minutes."
The Winterhawks became the popular pick to win the Western Hockey League title this season with a young core that also includes Columbus’ first-rounder, Ryan Johansen, who was taken one pick ahead of Niederreiter. Among the departed players are defenceman Luca Sbisa and American world junior gold-medalist, Luke Walker.
Although Portland is still in limbo awaiting news on the player dubbed ‘El Nino,’ his linemate Johansen came back in time for Saturday’s 3-2 shootout loss to Seattle.
If there was any disappointment for Johansen, you wouldn’t know it by his actions. The product of Port Moody, B.C. high-tailed it back to Portland in time for puck drop, just hours after being informed his NHL dream would be put on hold.
"Oh, I was dead (tired)," Johansen said. "Especially because I had to play Washington the day before and then I had to do all that travel."
The Winterhawks’ brass breathed a sigh of relief once Johansen was returned from the Blue Jackets. Johnston expected Johansen would be back, but not because of a lack of talent.
"He has the ability to play (in the NHL), it’s just his strength is going to be a factor," Johnston said. "He hasn’t developed physically yet."
While Johansen returned quickly, his Winterhawks teammates didn’t need to look far to monitor Niederreiter’s progress in NHL pre-season. The robust forward made headlines over the weekend after an altercation with Montreal Canadiens forward Mike Cammalleri in a game on Saturday. Cammalleri has since been suspended by the National Hockey League for a slash across the back of Niederreiter’s legs.
"Nino’s a hard (working) player and likes to finish the checks and obviously Cammalleri didn’t like that," Johansen said. "It was a pretty cheap shot from Cammalleri, but that’s the game of hockey and it looks bad on his part. It’s good for Nino to keep playing hard like that."
Johansen can appreciate the type of style Niederreiter plays, particularly since he doesn’t have to play against him.
"I know for myself I don’t like playing against those types of players," he said. "For any defender they’re not too happy when (Niederreiter’s) coming down on them."
Portland, which has seemingly tapped into the Swiss market quicker than any other team, didn’t begin the season without Swiss representation. The team selected forward Sven Bartschi seventh overall in this summer’s CHL import draft.
The 18-year-old Bartschi, who celebrated his birthday Tuesday, is enamoured with the quick pace and lifestyle of the WHL. Bartschi perhaps stands to gain the most from Niederreiter staying in Long Island, but sees the positives of both situations.
The league and team has been everything Bartschi thought it would be while he has been exactly what the Winterhawks thought to have drafted.
"Quick, skilled, very fast type of player," is how Johnston described Bartschi. "He’s a little bit different than Nino and not nearly as big, but a pretty dynamic player. I think once he gets comfortable in our league he’s going to be a guy who’s very dangerous."
The strength of this team can’t be underestimated, but that doesn’t mean they feel the pressure placed upon them either.
"Rankings are rankings - it’s how you perform within the league and we have high expectations for our program as well," Johnston said. "Whatever people are predicting, that’s one thing. It’s all a matter of how we play."
Whether Niederreiter comes back or not, those expectations aren’t likely to change.
