Markus Niemelainen (2016) 2nd best finnish D-man Eligible
Markus Niemelainen
Finland
6'5
190lbs
Saginaw Spirts
Towering at 6'5, Markus Niemelainen really started to showcase his talents at the recent Ivan Hlinka memorial Tournament. He managed to put up 2 assists in 5 games with the 4th place Finnish team, and took the opportunity to show off his strong two-way game. Niemelainen is very lengthy player who isn't hard to spot out. He possesses a very impressive stride for someone of his size and uses his long legs to the fullest. He is very reliable defensively and was always found on the top penalty-kill unit. His top performances came out against the last place Slovakia and the Bronze medal winning Americans, where he was very sound defensively and was very relied upon. A part of his game that doesn't get enough credit was that he was very versatile in the fact that he could play both sides of the ice, and could be used on all situations.
Some of the knock-offs of his game were that he was often not physical enough to push the opponents of the puck, he did make up for this with his reach and how he used his stick to separate his man from the puck. Another one I notice was that he wasn't all that good offensively and wont make a pinch at the blue line.
Coming into the 2015-2016 season Markus will be looking toward raising his draft stock and challenging to crack a spot on the Finland World Juniors line-up. He is coming off of a great year with the HPK U20 team, where he put up 16 points (2G 14A) in 39 games and had a remarkable +24 rating. He recently committed to playing for the Saginaw Spirits of the OHL and will most likely be a top 4 defender on that team, where he will be along side another 6'5 draft eligible in Keaton Middleton. He will also get a chance to play against the top Finnish defender Olli Joulevi, when Saginaw takes on London. Currently ranked 42nd at DraftGeek.ca and 16th amongst all eligible defenders. I predict that Niemelainen will put up 15-25 points with the Saginaw Spirit, and will man the top penalty kill. He's a potential top 6 defender in the OHL and could be someone who logs minutes against the opponents top line.
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