Player Profile: Nikolaj Ehlers

Nikolaj Ehlers was born on February 14th, 1996, in Aalborg, Denmark. He is a winger who has spent his entire NHL playing career with the Winnipeg Jets. Listed as 6-foot and 172 pounds, Ehlers shoots left-handed. Ehlers’ early playing days began when he played both youth and junior hockey in Switzerland for EHC Biel’s organization. He played in the 2009 Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament with the Swiss Eastern Team. Ehlers was coached by his father, Heinz before he made the move to North America to play for the Halifax Mooseheads of the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) in his draft-eligible season and one more afterwards.

Drafted Ninth Overall by the Winnipeg Jets

Heading into the 2014 NHL Entry Draft, Nikolaj Ehlers was considered one of the top prospects in this draft. The Winnipeg Jets owned the ninth overall draft selection which they took Nikolaj Ehlers with. Ehlers didn’t jump to the Winnipeg Jets immediately, he spent a second season with the Halifax Mooseheads. Ehlers concluded his junior career in dominating fashion, posting 204 points (86G, 118A) in 114 games. He added 118 PIM and a plus-minus of plus-91 in that timeframe. He was also highly successful in the postseason for Halifax where he posted 59 points (21G, 38A) in 30 games.

Ehlers signed his three-year, entry-level contract (ELC) on September 7th, 2014. The contract was eligible for an ELC slide in the first year (2014-15) as Ehlers played his second and final year with the Halifax Mooseheads that season.

Ehlers made his NHL debut on October 8th, 2015 in the Jets’ season opener against the Boston Bruins. He would have to wait until October 13th to score his first career NHL goal, but he experienced adversity early on in his career following his first goal. Ehlers experienced a 15-game goalless drought and a 30-game stretch from November 4th, 2015, to January 10th, 2016 where he would only record five points. The Jets would stick with Ehlers throughout this stretch and it paid off as he became more consistent in the 2016 stretch of the season.

On January 26th, 2016, Nikolaj Ehlers recorded his first career NHL hat-trick against the Arizona Coyotes making him the second teenager in Winnipeg Jets 2.0 history to record a three-goal game. Once the 2015-16 season was done, Ehlers notched a total of 38 points (15G, 23A) in 72 games. He would follow this impressive rookie season up with 64 points (25G, 39A) in 82 games during the 2016-17 season. His 2017-18 season was another strong season as Ehlers posted 60 points (29G, 31A) in 82 games. This was enough to secure Ehlers a lucrative contract extension with the Winnipeg Jets.

Ehlers Inks Seven-Year Contract Extension

On October 4th, 2017, Nikolaj Ehlers signed a seven-year contract extension worth an average annual value (AAV) of $6 million per year. This locked Ehlers up for the future and kept the Winnipeg Jets competitive for the long run.

Ehlers would deal with injuries throughout the contract’s length and he wouldn’t play a full season until the 2023-24 season. Ehlers showed that he had chemistry with the Jets’ top line of Gabriel Vilardi and Mark Scheifele, but he wouldn’t stick on that line long-term due to injuries and coaching decisions.

Nikolaj Ehlers is entering the final year of his contract this year. He will be an unrestricted free agent on July 1st, 2025. He has been surrounded by trade speculation in the 2024 offseason, but the Winnipeg Jets have held onto the 28-year-old forward. Ehlers is coming off his best season since the 2017-18 season, and he would’ve had some other outstanding seasons if 2020-21 wasn’t shortened due to the COVID-19 pandemic and 2022-23 wasn’t hampered by injuries.