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.

In the following 1997-98 campaign, Nikolishin established himself as an important checking and special teams player, recording 13 assists in the playoffs helping the Capitals reach the Stanley Cup finals before falling to champions the Detroit Red Wings.

[1] 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.

Following the Russian Revolution, the brother of his grandfather went on to serve in the Polish Army, and eventually emigrate the family to Edmonton, Alberta,[4] known for its large Ukrainian Canadian diaspora population.

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.