NHL

In second year, Nino plans to stick with Islanders

His shoulders are broader, his head is held higher, and as young winger Nino Niederreiter stood in front of his locker yesterday after the first skating day of the Islanders’ mini-camp at Nassau Coliseum, he looked the part that he’s hoping to play come the season opener on Oct. 8.

“Last year, I didn’t know what to expect,” said Niederreiter, who was the team’s No. 5 overall pick in the 2010 draft and ended up playing nine games in the NHL last season before being sent back to his junior team in Portland.

“It was an unbelievable feeling to play up there and now I know how hard I have to work for the next step,” the 18-year-old Swiss player said. “Hopefully it’s going to happen this year that I’m going to make the team.”

That decision won’t come for general manager Garth Snow and coach Jack Capuano until the real training camp starts in September. Yet both of them know the table is set for Niederreiter to excel.

“Nino’s play will dictate where he ends up playing,” Snow told The Post recently. “I personally don’t believe going back to junior will help him on the development side. He’s got a big body, hockey sense, he can skate, he’s powerful.

“A character is there,” Snow said. “I can envision him being in an Islander uniform come October.”

Capuano said that Niederreiter had needed to get stronger in order to win one-on-one puck battles, as well as adjust to the speed of the NHL game. Yet he’s never questioned his work ethic, and the coach thinks he’s on the right path come training camp.

“Looking at Nino now, how he’s grown into his body [and] the confidence level he’s playing with, you can see it for sure,” Capuano said. “He’s a guy that come September will be pushing hard, and I think he knows that his time is now.”

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Ryan Strome, the Islanders’ first-round pick (No. 5 overall), skated for the first time on the Coliseum ice yesterday. As exciting as it was for the Mississauga, Ontario, native, who just turned 18 on Monday, Capuano is reserving judgment.

“In my short conversation with him, obviously he’s a tremendous kid,” Capuano said. “He’s a high-character guy, high skill set level, and come September we’ll see where he fits in.”

bcyrgalis@nypost.com