Top 20 on the Islanders: #13 Nino Niederreiter

#25 Nino Niederreiter (Photo by Mike Stobe/NHLI via Getty Images)

          Next up on the top twenty list is a rookie who was drafted high by the Islanders last year.  He's a big man, standing at 6' 2", and he is tough.  The number thirteen player is right winger, Nino Niederreiter.
          Niederreiter, or as Islander fans call him "El Nino", was drafted by the Islanders in the first round (fifth overall), in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft.  He was said to be an explosive play maker, and has shown spurts of it this year.  
          Niederreiter began his hockey career in the Western Hockey League, playing for the Portland Winterhawks.  In his two years with the club, he played in one-hundred-twenty games.  He compiled seventy-seven goals and fifty-three assists, totaling one-hundred-thirty points.  
          With numbers like that it's not hard to see why the Islanders thought so highly of this kid.  Niederreiter made his debut with the Islanders in 2011.  So far in his professional hockey career, Niederreiter has one goal and no assists, for one point.
          Now I know what your thinking; how can he possibly be as high as he is on the list!  Let me defend myself.
          As earlier stated, this is a big kid, and he wants the puck.  Also this kid is only nineteen years old.  He is just getting settled in as a NHL player.  In due time this kid will become the play maker we all know he can be.
          Just give this kid a little time, and you will see that Nino Niederreiter, is a young star in the making.  Hey, if John Tavares can have an OK season one year, and then become an all-star the next, who says "El Nino" can't do the same?  I guess we'll have to wait and see.