The New Jersey Devils shut out the Toronto Maple Leafs on Sunday, and Nico Hischier had a memorable outing.
In New Jersey’s 4-0 win over Toronto, Hischier opened the scoring with a secondary assist on Timo Meier’s goal at the 8:28 mark of the first period. While it was great to see Meier score early, considering his struggles, it was a milestone for Hischier.
Nicholas J. Cotsonika of NHL.com shared, “With an assist on Meier’s first goal, Hischier became the third player born in Switzerland with 500 points in the NHL, after Roman Josi (799) and Kevin Fiala (528).”
Hischier is in a good spot to catch Fiala. But Josi will be tough, and Hischier won’t catch him in the foreseeable future.
While Hischier has played well, with 13 points and eight goals in 18 games, Josi has been on another level despite being in his age-36 season. Josi currently has 20 points in 17 games and has shown no signs of slowing down at his advanced age.
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Hischier acknowledged the rare milestone. In Cotsonika’s same post-game recap, Hischier said, “It makes me a little proud, for sure. But at the end of the day, like, trying to win something here. Yeah, I guess, it’s, like, some memories I’ll have forever, but I want to get better memories with winning something for the team.”
It was a memorable outing for Hischier, no doubt, but he is right. Hischier first joined the Devils in 2017-18 in his age-19 campaign. While he looked effective almost immediately with 52 points and 20 goals in 82 games, his rookie season marked the first of just three postseason appearances.
Hischier has just 22 games of playoff experience over his nine-plus seasons with New Jersey. His second appearance came in 2022-23, when he saw time in 12 playoff games. He also helped the Devils get there in 2024-25. During his time in the NHL, Hischier has been part of just one playoff series win in 2023.
With New Jersey jumping out to an incredible start with 26 points in 18 games, 2026-27 is turning into a golden opportunity for both him and the Devils.
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If Timo Meier’s two-goal performance marks a turning point for him this season, then Hischier has yet another reason to up the urgency. Meier would reinsert his scoring prowess in a high-octane group that contains Hischier, Jack Hughes, Jesper Bratt, Arseny Gritsyuk, Luke Hughes, Anthony Mantha, and Dougie Hamilton, among others.
Heading into Monday, that core has the Devils ranked sixth in scoring with 65 goals and 3.61 per game. That will be tough for even some of the highest-scoring teams in hockey to deal with, especially with Connor Hellebuyck now taking most of the reps in the net to stop opposing scoring attacks.
For Hischier, that means he has a chance to keep building his legacy as one of the best Swiss-born scorers in NHL history. But his sights are rightfully set higher. If the Devils can keep up their current play, they will be legitimate Stanley Cup contenders.
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