Nieuwendyk was born September 10, 1966 in Oshawa, Ontario, and grew up in Whitby. He is the youngest of four children to Gordon and Joanne Nieuwendyk, who immigrated to Canada from the Netherlands in 1958. Gordon owned a car repair shop in Whitby. Joe grew up in a sporting family.

New Jersey, who had won the Stanley Cup in 2000 and reached the finals the following year, acquired Nieuwendyk for their playoff run in 2002. He scored 11 points in 14 regular season games for the Devils following the trade, but New Jersey was eliminated in the first round of the 2002 Stanley Cup playoffs by the Carolina Hurricanes. Nieuwendyk reached two offensive milestones in 2002-03. He scored his 500th career goal on January 17, 2003, against Carolina's Kevin Weekes. On February 23, he scored his 1,000th point in a win over the Pittsburgh Penguins. He and the Devils reached the 2003 Stanley Cup Finals, but Nieuwendyk suffered a hip injury in the sixth game of the Eastern Conference Final that prevented him from appearing in the championship series. The Devils defeated the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim in the final, capturing the franchise's third Stanley Cup. For Nieuwendyk, it was his third title with his third different team.  The Toronto Maple Leafs signed Nieuwendyk to a one-year contract for the 2003-04 season. He scored 22 goals for Toronto in a season marred by abdominal and back injuries that limited him to 64 games played, and a groin injury that forced him out of the lineup for much of Toronto's second-round series loss to the Philadelphia Flyers. He signed another one-year deal for 2004-05, but the season was cancelled due to a labour dispute that was feared would mark the end of the 38-year-old Nieuwendyk's career.  When NHL play resumed in 2005-06, the Florida Panthers sought to bolster their lineup with veteran players. They signed both Nieuwendyk and Roberts, who had played together in Calgary and Toronto and wanted to finish their careers together, to two-year, $4.5 million contracts. Nieuwendyk appeared in 65 games during the season, scoring 26 goals and 56 points. He appeared in 15 games in 2006-07 before chronic back pain forced him onto injured reserve. After missing 14 games, Nieuwendyk announced his retirement on December 7, 2006.

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