Player Discussion: Niku

[NotCommitted]

Hi jets fan. What can we expect from Sami Niku? Type of dman, role, wich pairiing. Thanks!

I don't think he got a fair shot with the Jets. I always love him with the puck, he has poise, I think he has potential to be quite good in transition and offensively, even though it never amounted to any good results with the Jets. His D game in the own zone looked bad most of the time. I think to see what you got in him he needs to be played to his strengths and then it remains to be seen if those outweigh the shortcomings at least to a degree where you can afford to give him an extended look to see if he can figure it out.

I always thought he got into a bit of a limbo - "too good" for the AHL to develop there anymore and too bad defensively to play the kind of 'safe' game he was expected to in the big league. I think his attitude did him no favors with the Jets - he has a bit of a temper and said so himself, I think at some point he got too frustrated with the lack of opportunity and I think got his leash even shorter than it would've perhaps otherwise been. He also got in a car accident and had other injury concerns at the worst possible time.

All in all after that excellent AHL season everything just went wrong for him in Winnipeg I think. Some of it on him, some of it on the coaching and some of it just plain bad luck.

 

[DRW204]

I wonder what Lowry's charts would look like if he was told to stop playing defensively altogether because we're only going to judge him on his offensive abilities? Don't judge a fish by its ability to fly, don't judge a bird by its ability to swim.

i wonder too. but none of that have conclusive info to say that ever happened. nevertheless his showing in the nhl has been v poor in a sheltered role. unless you have some evidence that says maurice/jets staff told niku to completely stop everything/all the skills that provides some sort of nhl utility, i'll go off what he has shown on ice. he has flashes of above-average puck moving abilities but it sure as hell doesn't outweight all his other short comings, and i highly doubt a coach is going to every say dont worry about defense (to a dman).

anyway, we'll see if he becomes a top defender in montreal, and maybe you're right

 

[Atoyot]

Don't judge a defenseman by his ability to play defense!

Game moves in two directions. Why do we judge a forward on his defense but not his offense? All I'm saying is that if you tell a player that he's not allowed to do the things that he's good at and to only do the things that he's bad at of course the results are going to be bad. I'm interested in seeing how he does in a situation where he's allowed to play his game. I'm not saying he'll take off, I'm saying I don't think we saw the player that he is. It might not be NHL level still, but it'll be interesting to see.

 

[sashalaine]

Interesting how much the opinion of a young and inexperienced player has changed here over the last 18 months, although we have barely seen him play hockey during that time (and not a ton before that either). It's very possible that he just didn't deserve the chance, but now we'll probably at least get a chance to see for ourselves.

 

[jokesondee]

We'll see what happens with Niku but overall the Jets have a solid track record when it comes to giving up on players. I cant think of a single player the Jets no longer wanted/let walk that went on to thrive somewhere else. Guys like Armia, Chiarot, Tanev, etc, that have had success with other teams were players the Jets would have liked to have kept but couldnt due to cap concerns. I really dont see Niku ever becoming a regular NHL player.

 

[Atoyot]

i wonder too. but none of that have conclusive info to say that ever happened. nevertheless his showing in the nhl has been v poor in a sheltered role. unless you have some evidence that says maurice/jets staff told niku to completely stop everything/all the skills that provides some sort of nhl utility, i'll go off what he has shown on ice. he has flashes of above-average puck moving abilities but it sure as hell doesn't outweight all his other short comings, and i highly doubt a coach is going to every say dont worry about defense (to a dman).

anyway, we'll see if he becomes a top defender in montreal, and maybe you're right

My evidence is just Niku's agent saying he was specifically told not to join the rush, might just be mud slinging/making excuses though. Also he didn't play the same game he did on the Moose. And again, I'm not saying he shouldn't work on his defensive game, absolutely he needs to improve it, but he shouldn't have to sacrifice his strengths completely to do it. And again, maybe he didn't, maybe that's just what he is. We'll see and I'll be rooting for him.

Also for the record, I never thought he'd be a top pairing defender. I've always said I thought he could be useful in the right role. Which is sheltered/offensive.

 

[DRW204]

My evidence is just Niku's agent saying he was specifically told not to join the rush, might just be mud slinging/making excuses though. Also he didn't play the same game he did on the Moose. And again, I'm not saying he shouldn't work on his defensive game, absolutely he needs to improve it, but he shouldn't have to sacrifice his strengths completely to do it. And again, maybe he didn't, maybe that's just what he is. We'll see and I'll be rooting for him.

Also for the record, I never thought he'd be a top pairing defender. I've always said I thought he could be useful in the right role. Which is sheltered/offensive.

agent protecting his guy. not sure what else he would say

idk he always showed flashes of puck-moving abilities and crisp, accurate passing. nothing exemplary, but it was solid and a definite strength. imo you can't just get by on that, especially if you do not have the puck which was probably why we seldom saw it from him.

anyway, we'll see what he becomes in MTL. I don't see where he would've fit in this roster in 18-19 (we had 6 NHL dmen better than him). he did get 30 games that year and the results speak for itself...... then there was the driving incident, injuries, off-ice "events" too in 19-20. still got some games, but looked bad again. this past year seemed like Stanley emerged ahead of him. Niku did get some games w/ Demelo, but the on-ice results were inferior when compared with Stanley-Demelo.

 

[Aggie204]

I cannot wait for the Jets to turnstile the guy. But I’m hoping the best for him otherwise.

 

[cheswick]

Hi jets fan. What can we expect from Sami Niku? Type of dman, role, wich pairiing. Thanks!

He'll be a solid player for you guys in Laval.

 

[Tommigun]

Interesting how much the opinion of a young and inexperienced player has changed here over the last 18 months, although we have barely seen him play hockey during that time (and not a ton before that either). It's very possible that he just didn't deserve the chance, but now we'll probably at least get a chance to see for ourselves.

He played badly in most of the handful games he got in but what can you expect from a player that spends all his time on the taxi squad, so I’d say he’s partly a casualty of the taxi squad. Someone had to be that guy.

That said I still think he is a bit of a Pionk lite, so a change of scenery and actually playing more than a handful of games can do wonders. I don’t think it’s completely fair to shit on a player who doesn’t have his legs at all. People also seem to have turned on him as soon as he was let go.

I’m by no means a Niku fan, but I think opportunity should be factored in in assessments.

 

[WolfgangPuck]

Never really knew why we didn’t try Niku on the wing instead of D. The offense skill was there Not much D. But I’m sure he could have back checked as a forward half decent

 

[Guardian17]

“Yeah, it’s tough,” Marchand said. “It’s frustrating for young guys coming into a camp like this, where you feel like you’re ready, you feel like you want to be in the NHL. Everybody wants to be here. No one wants to go back to junior, college, minors. You want to make that jump.

“You’re looking at what you can do, but that’s when you have to kind of pick a guy and try to push him out. That’s what you do. You find a guy you think you can push out and you try to lean on him and try to take his spot.

“If you want to be realistic about it, probably 97 percent of guys start in the minors. You’re kind of hoping for an injury at some point. Unfortunately you don’t want to say that, but that’s how you get in this league. You go down to the minors, you play well, and you hope for guys to get hurt and you get your call-up. That’s how it is.

Most players would never publicly acknowledge trying to “push out” a more senior player or “hoping” for an injury. Regardless, it is in fact true that many young players don’t get a call-up until there’s an injury.


Brad Marchand explains harsh reality for young players trying to make Bruins

 

[TS Quint]

Game moves in two directions. Why do we judge a forward on his defense but not his offense? All I'm saying is that if you tell a player that he's not allowed to do the things that he's good at and to only do the things that he's bad at of course the results are going to be bad. I'm interested in seeing how he does in a situation where he's allowed to play his game. I'm not saying he'll take off, I'm saying I don't think we saw the player that he is. It might not be NHL level still, but it'll be interesting to see.

No one ever said he isn't allowed to do the things he is good at. That's just silly. Do your work in the defensive zone and you can play some offense.

 

[Guffman]

A lot of hot takes on Niku who we have only seen play 23 NHL games these past two years with a horrible defense corp. Hey…maybe JFresh can give us a chart about it based on such meaningful data lol.

Anyways, great no-risk contract for Montreal. At least Niku will get to play and hopefully develop his game further (in whichever league).

BTW, his hair is awful.

 

[tbcwpg]

A lot of hot takes on Niku who we have only seen play 23 NHL games these past two years with a horrible defense corp. Hey…maybe JFresh can give us a chart about it based on such meaningful data lol.

Anyways, great no-risk contract for Montreal. At least Niku will get to play and hopefully develop his game further (in whichever league).

BTW, his hair is awful.

He actually has



I don't see him being an NHL regular based on what we've seen thus far. Obviously there's lots of room for improvement but I see more Paul Postma than Ben Chiarot here as far as making an NHL career for himself.

 

[TheJadePipe]

Interesting how much the opinion of a young and inexperienced player has changed here over the last 18 months, although we have barely seen him play hockey during that time (and not a ton before that either). It's very possible that he just didn't deserve the chance, but now we'll probably at least get a chance to see for ourselves.

I suspect everyone will realize he is the “Pétan” on the D corps

 

[Jack7222]

A lot of hot takes on Niku who we have only seen play 23 NHL games these past two years with a horrible defense corp. Hey…maybe JFresh can give us a chart about it based on such meaningful data lol.

Anyways, great no-risk contract for Montreal. At least Niku will get to play and hopefully develop his game further (in whichever league).

BTW, his hair is awful.

Yeah I agree with this. Clearly Niku has a ton of talent, and although it wouldn't surprise me if he never really put it together and stuck in the NHL, at this point I don't think anyone really knows. We never really gave him a solid run of games to get his feet and I don't think you can read much into his time on the Jets. (That's not to say the Org was necessarily wrong here; there could be extenuating circumstances we don't know about influencing his development path).

I think this is a good low risk - medium reward pickup by Montreal.

 

[John Agar]

Here is the thread for all Niku fans...

Confirmed with Link: - Habs Sign Sami Niku to One year Contract | HFBoards - NHL Message Board and Forum for National Hockey League (mandatory.com)

Laval is not far away....

 

[10Ducky10]

Here is the thread for all Niku fans...

Confirmed with Link: - Habs Sign Sami Niku to One year Contract | HFBoards - NHL Message Board and Forum for National Hockey League (mandatory.com)

Laval is not far away....

Just a pit stop before Europe...

 

[sipowicz]

He'll be a solid player for you guys in Laval.

Might even be top pairing on Rocket!

 

[Hunter368]

We can close this thread, the player is no longer with the organization.