Nino Niederreiter re-signs, agreeing to a 3-year, $8 million contract

Game 7's overtime hero has re-signed and is ready to pick up where he left off.

One week before players are set to report for training camp, Nino Niederreiter, the young power winger who scored the Western Conference quarterfinals clinching goal last season for the Wild, agreed to terms on a three-year, $8 million contract Thursday.

"I'm glad it's over and I'm part of the Wild family again," Niederreiter said by phone from Portland, Ore., where he's skating with the Western Hockey League Winterhawks and working with his power-skating instructor. "I think it's all about now. The season's coming up and I think I found a way to score goals in the league and felt I got better and better as last season went on, so now I'm very happy to focus and not worry about the contract situation.

"Now I just want to go out there and play and really, really work on things."

The 6-foot-2, 209-pound Niederreiter, 22, scored a career-high 14 goals and 36 points in 81 games last season. He was plus-12, which ranked fourth on the team, and ranked second with 175 hits. In 13 playoffs games, he scored three goals and six points and led the team with 40 hits. In Game 7 of the first round against Colorado, Niederreiter scored two goals, including the winner in overtime, and assisted on Jared Spurgeon's late third-period, overtime-forcing goal.

"I'm very happy the way the playoffs went," said Niederreiter, who was also one of Switzerland's best players in the Olympics. "It's still tough the way we lost Game 6 [against Chicago], but at the end of the day, we have to look forward. I'm happy I had a chance to perform in the playoffs and now I just have to keep it up going forward here."

Niederreiter said he will be in Portland until Sunday and plans to be on the ice with his teammates during informal practices Monday. Players report for camp next Thursday and skate for the first time next Friday.

Earlier this week, Kuemper's agent said he is asking the Wild for a one-year, one-way contract. The Wild has offered Kuemper a two-year deal, the first year being a two-way, the second being a one-way.