Nico Hischier’s stock has been steadily growing since the beginning of last season, where he came from behind to take the 1st overall draft spot in 2017.
Now, in what was supposed to be a weak draft class, he’s made his NHL roster, helped the Devils reach the top of their division 16 games into the season and has been scoring at a nice pace in his first season. He has two goals and nine assists to start the season but more impressive than that might be the latest compliment he received.
He’s a quick, shifty player that can fun to watch and the greatest player of all time agrees. Wayne Gretzky texted Ken Daneyko (Who is part of the MSG broadcast team) asking him to “Tell that #13 I love watching him player, he’s so enjoyable”.
Hearing that the Great One specifically took notice of your style of play as a rookie has to feel pretty great.
Hischier was born the same year that Wayne Gretzky retired, so it’s not likely he grew up with much knowledge of Gretzky’s game, but everyone knows his numbers and the name Gretzky is legendary in the game of hockey. He should probably see if Daneyko can send him a screen shot of that text, he might want to hang it on his wall.
Maybe now that Taylor Hall made him change his Twitter bio he has something new to add.
