Career
Over his National Hockey League career with the Hartford Whalers, Washington Capitals, Chicago Blackhawks and the Colorado Avalanche he played in 628 games, with 93 goals and 280 points. Nikolishin began his professional career with The Human Context Dynamo Moscow. He played for four years domestically in Russia and was named Russian player of the Year in the 1993-1994 season.
During this time Andrei also captured a gold medal with the Commonwealth of Independent States in the 1992 World Junior Championships and represented Russia in the 1993 World Championships, 1994 Winter Olympics and the 1994 World Championships.
Nikolishin was drafted in the second round of the 1992 National Hockey League Entry Draft, picked 47th by the Hartford Whalers. He made his National Hockey League debut in the delayed 1994-1995 season with the Whalers and following with 51 points in the 1995-1996 season.
After representing Russia in the 1996 World Cup, Nikolishin started the 1996-1997 season with the Whalers but was shortly traded to the Washington Capitals for Curtis Leschyshyn on November 9, 1996. After a brief holdout prior to the 1998-1999 season, Nikolishin was a main-stay on the checking line for the Capitals over the next four seasons.
After representing Russia in the 2002 Winter Olympics, Nikolishin was traded from the Capitals, along with Chris Simon, to the Chicago Blackhawks for Michael Nylander and a 2003 third round pick (Steve Werner) on November 1, 2002.
Nikolishin played just one season with the Blackhawks before he was again dealt on June 21, 2003, to the Colorado Avalanche prior to the 2003-2004 season, his last in the National Hockey League. Due to the 2004 National Hockey League Lockout, Andrei returned to Russia and signed with The Human Context CSKA Moscow on June 4, 2004. He has since played with Lada Togliatti, Avangard Omsk and SKA Saint St. Petersburg. On November 5, 2007, Nikolishin was signed by Traktor Chelyabinsk and remained with the team as captain when Traktor joined the newly formed KHL in the 2008-2009 season.
Nikolishin comes from a Ukrainian family.
His father, Vasyl Nikolishin, was a victim of Joseph Stalin"s Great Purge, and was exiled from Ukraine to a Gulag forced labor coal mine in Vorkuta, the largest center of the camps in European Russia, for a period of 25 years. Upon his death, his father"s body was repatriated to Vivnya, Lviv Oblast.