Really, when you consider he still may return to Finland, or play some AHL in the next 2 years, he could conceivably take even longer than that to lose his waiver eligibility. Which, as you say, is probably a moot point because at the rate he's going, he's probably on our 2nd pair by the time he hits 160gp.
Player Discussion: Sami Niku
- Thread starter cg98
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Really, when you consider he still may return to Finland, or play some AHL in the next 2 years, he could conceivably take even longer than that to lose his waiver eligibility. Which, as you say, is probably a moot point because at the rate he's going, he's probably on our 2nd pair by the time he hits 160gp.
I'm getting a little worried about Sami. He was held out of the Moose practice today after being a late scratch the last game because a nagging groin injury. This is a type of injury that can linger on and really impact a players season.
Difficult injuries to heal and to train, for sure, especially once the season is underway. Hopefully he can put in the time to recover properly, since it's notoriously easy to aggravate a groin injury. And the timing is awful. Seems like this D can't buy a break.
DannyGallivan
Your world frightens and confuses me
Really crappy for Niku and the team to be dealing with this sort of injury. He's young and hopefully that helps him heal quicker. I was really liking his play while he was up. I think being 100% he could really help our D.
I can definitely see Niku being dangled in trade talks. As I mentioned in another thread, I just don’t see PMo having Morrissey, Heinola, Pionk and Niku in the lineup at the same time.
When it comes to smaller d, they will ride with Morrissey and Heinola down the road, but will add size and physicality to help them out, such as Samberg eventually.
In the future, I can see a d corps of:
Morrissey-Hamonic (or Byfuglien)
Heinola-Ristolainen
Samberg-Pionk
Each pairing is balanced with size/skill, physicality/puck movers, and offence/defence. For that reason, you can play these pairings in all situations for the most part and not worry too much about matchups.
To get Risto, you give up a Niku and picks.
Hamonic is a FA signing or Buff comes back.
Seems a little weird to trade a high end defensive prospect about to make the leap into the NHL for "defensive help".
If you falsely believe that Niku is bad defensively, it makes perfect sense.
Duke749
Savannah Ghost Pirates
Totally fair. But is that small sample in the NHL the real him, or are his larger sample AHL numbers more indicative?
tbcwpg
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- Jan 25, 2011
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The argument can work both ways. His defensive play in the AHL has been good but the quality of competition is also much less. There have been lots of AHL award winners who did well in that league but could never make the jump to the NHL. At this point, I'd have to put a bit more weight on the games in the NHL - he might be better than his stats have shown but he's not going to hit his AHL stats in the NHL.
No, he’s never going to be Nick Lidstrom defensively and I don’t think that’s the expectation. But he will be far from the disaster in his own end that a lot of people assume him to be. It does seem like good offensive defencemen, especially Euros, get a reputation for being soft in their own zone when it’s very clear that ability to move the puck out of their own end is one of the more effective defensive skills.
tbcwpg
Moderator
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I don't think he's soft. I think that kind of argument never is useful - if a player plays like that in his own zone, the other stats will bear that out.
I think the game moves a bit quickly for him right now, and he puts himself in some risky situations to create.
I’m not suggesting that you personally feel that way. I’m saying that there are a number of people who do, especially those suggesting he be traded for “defensive” help.
Gotta hope Niku is being held out for injury reasons because no one in their right mind has f***ing Anthony Bitetto over anyone.
Bitetto and Kulikov are only 1 inch taller and maybe 10-15 lbs heavier then Niku, Pionk, Morissey and Mo has no problem playing them. I think the smallness of those guys is exaggerated. I get your point tho, and it has more to do with physicality I think, and that goes back to the age old physicality vs IQ/skill debate.
Ducky10
Searching for Mark Scheifele
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Would be nice to get a large enough sample to see whether it’s even somewhere in between, which would be acceptable.
- Mar 10, 2010
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Really just hoping for the kid to catch a break recovery wise. The timing of this LBI couldn’t be worse.
3+3 now in 6 games. With these numbers you'd expect him to be called up pretty damn quickly. Can anyone who's watched the games say if he's been blowing it defensively or how has he looked out there?
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Considering how well he's played in the AHL in the past I'd say it's a pretty safe bet that his performance (or lack thereof) has absolutely no relevance to him getting called up or the minutes he gets while in the NHL. I don't think the Jets and/or Maurice have any plans on trusting him with actual NHL time outside of a massive injury crisis, seeing as they'd rather play Bitetto, Sbisa and Dahlström ahead of him. I mean, if those guys are ahead of Niku in the depth chart he should put two and two together and realize it's not going to happen for him in this team.
It's not entirely up to Maurice at this point. They acquired Bitetto, Dahlstrom and Sbisa to fill in for a bunch of injuries on D (Buff, Beaulieu, Niku, Poolman). Only Niku can be demoted to the AHL without waivers and without retaining significant salary. At this point, I think salary and cap considerations driven by Chevy and management are going to play a role in what happens with Niku and the D, particularly until the Buff situation is clarified. It's just a messed up season on D.
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