Chapter Text
Wisconsin Wendigo (Madison, WI)
2020-2021 Pre-Season
Line-up for September 26th, 2020
vs. Nashville Predators
Offense:
Axel – Michaels (C) – Boltsch
Scott – Jetter (A) – Gonzales-Marquez
O’Donnell – DuCharme – Harada
Hanninen – Nazari – Angelo
Defense:
Song – Patel (A)
Sazonov – N. Sazonov
Hult – Saev
Goaltenders:
Tran
Kipfer
Healthy Scratches:
Balzar
Frisk
Schwegler
Injury Reserve:
Orlov (Lower body as of September 24th, 2020)
Other Absences:
Etterbird (WCOH until TBD October)
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Reunited Teammates Karim Nazari and Niko Hanninen on Thin Ice?
Summary: Eyes turn to former New York Rangers teammates Karim Nazari and Niko Hanninen following Wisconsin’s loss against the Nashville Predators to start the 2020-2021 pre-season. As Wisconsin gears up for their regular season home opener on October 12th, will the two forwards find a way to recover their former chemistry?
Author: Heather Young / Central Wisconsin Sports Correspondent
Sunday, September 27th, 2020
The Wendigo media team has previously talked about Wisconsin’s affinity for reuniting players with shared history, with special segments on Marcus Axel and Andre Boltsch as well as Arthur Kim and Montgomery Badalzua. Karim Nazari and Niko Hanninen are a similar case, though as seen in last night’s pre-season game against the Nashville Predators, the chemistry between the two forwards has clearly changed since their time with the New York Rangers franchise.
Center and Toronto-native, Karim Nazari, was New York’s second pick in the 2013 NHL Draft, followed by Finnish left-winger Niko Hanninen in the third round. The two were reassigned to the Hartford Wolfpack following the Draft, where they quickly established themselves as the team’s ‘dynamic duo’ during the 2013-2014 season. Nazari and Hanninen were brought up to the NHL at the start of the 2014-2015 season, where they made their debut as linemates against the Carolina Hurricanes and combined for a spectacular six points, Nazari with 2G and 1A and Hanninen with 3A.
New York Rangers fans quickly fell in love with the spirited rookies as they continued to tally points on the ice, and create entertaining media content off the ice. One of the Rangers’ most successful media series featured Nazari and Hanninen touring New York City’s best pizzerias, where Nazari showed off impressive pizza-tossing skills and Hanninen went hilariously undercover as a delivery driver. While perhaps an unpopular campaign with the Rangers’ nutrition team, the videos posted to Youtube remain some of the Rangers’ most circulated off-ice content. During those early seasons, the two seemed all but inseparable.
Things seemed to change for the worse, however, when Nazari was traded to Los Angeles in July of 2016 in exchange for defenseman Xavier Ans. Nazari remained with the Kings for three seasons before being claimed off LA’s unprotected list during Wisconsin’s Expansion Draft in 2019. Hanninen remained with the Rangers until March 2017 when he was traded pre-deadline to the Washington Capitals for a third-round pick in the 2018 Draft. Hanninen was acquired by Wisconsin only this last July in a one-to-one trade with Washington for former Wendigo defenseman Yuri Tkachenko.
Many saw the trade as a steal for Wisconsin given Nazari and Hanninen’s past with the Rangers. However, to all watching the Wendigo’s matchup against the Predators last night, it’s clear that somewhere along the line, their relationship went sour.
For the first two periods against Nashville, Nazari and Hanninen were placed on the fourth line along with right-winger Luca Angelo. The line produced a goal from Angelo, but off an assist from defenseman Felix Hult. Nazari and Hanninen meanwhile collectively contributed to three embarrassing turnovers, two of which turned into scoring opportunities for the Predators. By the third period, Alphose DuCharme replaced Nazari as center on the fourth line, and Nazari joined Malachy O’Donnell and Toshi Harada on the third line. Neither Nazari nor Hanninen tallied a point during the remainder of the game, but the cohesiveness of their play notably improved. Although captain Demetri Michaels closed the gap from 3-1 to 3-2 with two minutes left in the third period, the Wendigo failed to capitalize on the man advantage and the Predators sealed the deal with an empty netter with 37 seconds left. Final score 4-2 Nashville.
The reason behind Nazari and Hanninen’s loss of chemistry? When asked by the media following the final buzzer, Nazari refused to comment and Hanninen answered with a harsh: “It is none of your [redacted for media] business.” Which, to be fair, was not an unexpected response from the notoriously fiery Finn.
Whatever the issue may be, the tension between the two players has been noted by the Wendigo’s coaching staff and it appears that the two will be playing on separate lines for the foreseeable future.
Wisconsin’s next pre-season game will take place tomorrow, September 28th at 7 CST, where the Wendigo will try to turn out a win against the Minnesota Wild.
In World Cup of Hockey news: With their victory earlier today against Team Russia, Wisconsin’s 1st overall draft pick, Cameron Etterbird, and Team North America move onto the semi-final round. They will play Team Sweden on Tuesday, September 29th at 1 CST for a chance to play in the finals against the victor of Team Canada and Team Europe. Tune in!