Winnipeg Jets forward Nino Niederreiter played in his 1,000th career NHL game on Saturday. He is the 415th player of all time and the first Swiss-born player to reach the milestone.
The team and the league presented the 33-year-old native of Chur, Switzerland, with a silver cane during a ceremony prior to the Jets’ game against the Washington Capitals at the Canada Life Centre. The Jets won 5-1, and although Niederreiter was held off the scoresheet, he was a plus-1 and had two hits in 15:45 of ice time.
Niederreiter was drafted fifth overall by the New York Islanders in 2010 and has carved out an excellent career as a consistent player in the mid-six. Between the Islanders, Minnesota Wild, Carolina Hurricanes, Nashville Predators and Jets, the right winger has amassed 246 goals and 249 assists for 495 points, ranking third all-time among Swiss-born NHLers. He scored more than twenty goals in seven different seasons and scored more than thirty points in eleven different campaigns.
“I grew up at a time when the NHL was so far away,” Niederreiter said Friday. “Playing in the NHL was kind of a dream. And it seemed impossible to achieve. Then you get drafted and you hope to play one game, and now here you are with 1,000 games, so it’s definitely a dream come true. And I wouldn’t change a thing, to be honest.” (From ‘Swiss sniper to historical milestone’ Winnipeg Free Press, December 12, 2025.)
Niederreiter has six goals and nine assists for 15 points in 31 games this season, his fourth with the Jets after being acquired in a trade with the Predators in February 2023. He was also one of the first six Swiss players selected for their squad for the 2026 Winter Olympics in June.
Congratulations to Niederreiter for reaching an incredible milestone!
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