Fresh off a 70-goal season with the Los Angeles Kings, Bernie Nicholls had established himself as one of the NHL’s premier offensive players while skating alongside Wayne Gretzky. That’s why it came as a surprise when the Kings dealt him to the New York Rangers midway through the 1989-90 season.
Bernie Nicholls entered the 1990 NHL All-Star Game expecting to represent Los Angeles. In fact, Kings owner, Bruce McNall, had assured him he wasn’t going anywhere. But on January 20, 1990, everything changed. While at the All-Star festivities, Nicholls learned from goaltender Mike Vernon that he had been traded to the Rangers in exchange for Tomas Sandstrom and Tony Granato.
The news left Nicholls stunned. Not only was he leaving the team where he had enjoyed the best offensive stretch of his career, but he would no longer be playing alongside Gretzky. Accepting his new reality, Nicholls asked NHL officials to introduce him as a member of the Rangers during the All-Star Game, saying that’s who he was now.
The move paid immediate dividends for New York. Bernie Nicholls recorded 12 goals and 37 points in 32 games, helping the Rangers reach the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Their postseason run ended in the second round, however, as the Washington Capitals eliminated New York in five games behind John Druce’s remarkable nine-goal series.
Nicholls spent the entire 1990-91 season with the Rangers, producing 73 points in 71 games. Although he remained one of the club’s top offensive contributors, the Rangers were once again knocked out by the Capitals, this time in the opening round.
His stay in New York ended almost as quickly as it had begun. Just one game into the 1991-92 season, the Rangers acquired Mark Messier and Jeff Beukeboom from the Edmonton Oilers, sending Bernie Nicholls, Louie DeBrusk, Steven Rice, and David Shaw the other way in one of the biggest trades in franchise history. During his brief stint as a Ranger, he scored 110 points (37 goals and 73 assists) and proved to be a productive player wherever he was needed.
While Messier led the Rangers to the promised land, Nicholls reinvented himself as a more complete, two-way forward. He later reached the Conference Finals with the Oilers, Devils, and Blackhawks, though each run ended short of the Stanley Cup Final. While with New Jersey, he became the 39th player in NHL history to reach 1,000 career points in 1994.
Bernie Nicholls finished his NHL career with the San Jose Sharks, serving as a fourth-line checking center before being released early in the 1998-99 season. Over 1,127 career games, he totaled 475 goals and 734 assists for 1,209 points, ranking 27th on the NHL’s all-time scoring list at the time of his retirement.
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