Has tons, TONS, of work to do as a defender though. He's been having massive problems in front of his own net this season, as well as defense in general, and the somewhat small frame doesn't do him any favors in that department. Hopefully he manages to improve that side of his game towards spring, and if he does he'll be a top tier player. Until then, hit and miss.
Prospect Info: Marlies/Prospects Thread
- Thread starter uncleben
- Start date
-
Xenforo Cloud will be upgrading us to version 2.3.5 on March 3rd at 12 AM GMT. This version has increased stability and fixes several bugs. We expect downtime for the duration of the update. The admin team will continue to work on existing issues, templates and upgrade all necessary available addons to minimize impact of this new version. Click Here for Updates
- Status
Has tons, TONS, of work to do as a defender though. He's been having massive problems in front of his own net this season, as well as defense in general, and the somewhat small frame doesn't do him any favors in that department. Hopefully he manages to improve that side of his game towards spring, and if he does he'll be a top tier player. Until then, hit and miss.
SprDaVE
Moderator
- Sep 20, 2008
- 55,856
- 41,199
I'd say expectations of an 19 year old in a mens league isn't going to be about being a physically imposing player, especially with his stature. I'll be honest, I haven't watched any of his recent games at all so I'm simply just going by production and the people that are saying he's been great.
But yeah the hope is that his game keeps improving. It wouldn't be the first time a player dominates lower leagues offensively only to fail to develop their game further at the AHL/NHL.
Last edited:
kb
Registered User
- Aug 28, 2009
- 15,357
- 22,020
Defensive Game
Niemela has very good mobility, which allows him to play a strong two-way game. He has good gap control and is strong positionally, leading to a strong defensive game. Niemela defends effectively in one-on-one situations, forcing attackers to the outside and away from prime scoring areas. As he continues to add weight to his frame he will become even better at working along the boards and winning battles for loose pucks. Niemela retrieves loose pucks quickly and moves it out of the zone quickly with a good first pass, as well as the ability to skate the puck out of danger with his good stickhandling ability. He is strong positionally and uses his stick to steal the puck from opponents as well as to intercept passes.
Yeah, obviously no one is expecting him to be a physical juggernaut, but counter to his production offensively he's been exceptionally weak defensively. Terrible mistakes almost game after game. But as you said, he's young and the team is willing to look past his mistakes, let him do his thing and learn. At the rate he's currently producing he's on his way to break the point record for U20 defenders in the Finnish league so it's probably worth it anyway.
SeaOfBlue
The Passion That Unites Us All
- Aug 1, 2013
- 35,591
- 16,777
While I would rather have McKenna in the AHL right now, part of this has to do with Suomela and Steeves both being hurt right now. Neither would be every day guys with those two around.
stickty111
Registered User
- Jan 23, 2017
- 27,260
- 34,233
Big prospect show down today and tomorrow with Koster plus Knies and Minnesota facing Miettinen and St. Cloud. Koster on the 2nd pairing with Knies on the 4th but that means nothing as Kyle said. Miettinen on the 3rd line. 2 elite teams with 3 of our best prospects. Should be fun.
acrobaticgoalie
Registered User
- Jun 18, 2014
- 3,468
- 3,561
stickty111
Registered User
- Jan 23, 2017
- 27,260
- 34,233
Not on TV really but OnHockeyTV might have a stream
stickty111
Registered User
- Jan 23, 2017
- 27,260
- 34,233
St. Cloud wins 2-1. Knies stole the puck at the blueline that started the tying goal for Minnesota. He got an assist on the play.
stickty111
Registered User
- Jan 23, 2017
- 27,260
- 34,233
Morgs
#16 #34 #44 #88 #91
The Niemela bad defense takes don't make sense. His draft year it was talked about his excellent gap control (still true) and was known as a defensive defender with questionable offensive upside, while being fantastic in transition. I had him as a 1st round pick BECAUSE of how dominant he was defensively as a d0 in Liiga playing like 50 games.
Since then in his D+1 he was sheltered (after not being sheltered his D0 as much) and he absolutely dominated. His d+2 he's currently unsheltered, playing top-4 minutes, and leading the top-4 defenders in rel.CF%. It's obvious the reason we've seen criticism of his defense this season for the first time is because the goalie is letting in the puck with him on the ice far more than any other defender besides his partner. Very unlikely to continue if he keeps dominating shot attempts like he has since his D0.
The guy is getting closer to not only being in the top tier for me, but he may actually pass few of them.
Since then in his D+1 he was sheltered (after not being sheltered his D0 as much) and he absolutely dominated. His d+2 he's currently unsheltered, playing top-4 minutes, and leading the top-4 defenders in rel.CF%. It's obvious the reason we've seen criticism of his defense this season for the first time is because the goalie is letting in the puck with him on the ice far more than any other defender besides his partner. Very unlikely to continue if he keeps dominating shot attempts like he has since his D0.
The guy is getting closer to not only being in the top tier for me, but he may actually pass few of them.
kerk
Registered User
- Apr 27, 2009
- 727
- 1,298
the only critique i've really seen of him is that he gets out muscled in front of the net, which... he's 19 and like 165 pounds who is shocked that the kid has to put on some muscle
I think this is what it is. From the few games I've watched of his this season, he's having a hard time clearing out the front of the net. He's engaged but just not strong enough with grown men and that is to be expected from an undersized D playing against grown men who are playing 30-40 above his weight right now. Offensively he has great instincts and defensively in transition he's still a stud. His coaching staff is sheltering him a ton on the defensive side and from what I had seen, he's not really relied on a ton trying to defend leads or playing in high leverage situations. The few times he's been burnt on D (especially in OT), he's not been at fault and has just been the victim of a shitty team and guys on his own team napping on plays.
All in all, he's probably 2-3 years away from the NHL. I would be surprised if he makes it sooner. I think we're going to have to give him the Lilly treatment and ask him to really bulk up and work on his strength and physical game. Hopefully, unlike Lilly, Niems' game won't lose the offensive side but thankfully he's not as much of a gambler/aggressive offensively as Lilly used to be.
Liljegren never lost the offensive side of the game. He's actually pretty good offensively.
He has the 9th highest ppg ever for a 20 year old in the AHL with secondary PP time after Rosen/Sandin when he was down.
Had the 19th highest ppg ever for a 19 year old with no powerplay time (Sandin/Rosen)
Had the 6th highest PPG ever for an 18 year old with decent PP opportunity.
He's always been good offensively, he just generates most of his offense 5 on 5 because he doesn't get a lot of PP time.
If Niemela can follow his path we should be very excited.
Guy Boucher
Registered User
- Oct 22, 2008
- 4,642
- 1,045
Every time I see him play he looks awesome. I'm a bit concerned about his foot speed for when he arrives in North America...reminds me a bit of sandin in that regard, but he has time to add strength and power in his stride.
My understanding is Leafs TV broadcasts all home games (and all playoff games) and since today's game is at home I expect it to be on LeafsTV
Just a FYI if you have a Android TV/box there is a AHL app to watch today's free game
It's also $70USD to get all Home&Away games (but does not include playoffs)
I don't know where you are reading critiques of him but that is definitely not the only problem I've seen so far, though it's the worst. He's had problems with positioning, he takes unnecessary risks with the puck in his own end, he tends to lose his man when guarding a bit too often and he even has problems just disabling an opponents stick in front of the net. It could be that he's having problems wrapping his head around the defensive system of a new coach, but whatever it is he has quite a bit of work to do. With his production he doesn't have to worry about getting dropped so at least he can work on it with little pressure.
Morgs
#16 #34 #44 #88 #91
If you look at the Niemela prospect thread on main there's a guy that spewed how trash he was defensively. It's just crazy to me.
Menzinger
Kessel4LadyByng
- Status
Latest posts
-
Rumor: 2024-2025 Trade Rumors and Free Agency Talk | Part Deux- Latest: Bill Peckerskull
-
-
Pre-Game Talk: Toronto Maple Leafs at New York Rangers, Feb 28th, 2025, 7pm- Latest: Forgotusername
