Prospect Info: Topi Niemela what do you guys think?

[Cecithepylon]

I hear his name floating around and it gets me excited. What do you think?

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[The Iceman]

I didn't realize he was young enough to play WJC again as the defending most valuable D.

He is my fav prospect at the moment. Much like Sandin i think he has some personality to his game.

 

[Man Bear Pig]

Obviously looked great at the world juniors, looks like theres some nice upside there. But, I've also learned to not get too far ahead of myself based on one world junior tournament. I'd have him somewhere in our top 3 prospects, assuming Sandin and Liljegren graduate.

 

[Ziggdiezan]

Obviously looked great at the world juniors, looks like theres some nice upside there. But, I've also learned to not get too far ahead of myself based on one world junior tournament. I'd have him somewhere in our top 3 prospects, assuming Sandin and Liljegren graduate.

Take a look at the season he is having at the moment playing against men in the Finish league. Some pretty serious offensive stats for a 19 year old

 

[Man Bear Pig]

Take a look at the season he is having at the moment playing against men in the Finish league. Some pretty serious offensive stats for a 19 year old

Yup, hes having a great year offensively, but I havent seen much of him personally(outside the WJC) to know what hes looked like this season.

 

[Darcy Tucker]

That you're a pylon and prefer the company of Hobbits.

 

[Eternal Leaf]

There's a lot to like. He's in some excellent company in terms of WJC Best Defenseman winners.

Also, his numbers in Liiga are exceptional for his age.

 

[Macallan18]

shows promise, but Liga hardly puts out stars. If he dominated the swedish league like this, omg....

 

[SprDaVE]

It would be nice if the Leafs could finally draft and develop a star player outside of the first 2 rounds... heck outside of the 1st round at this rate.

I'm keeping my expectations low about Niemela but we'll see how he does when he moves over to North America.

 

[4thline]

It would be nice if the Leafs could finally draft and develop a star player outside of the first 2 rounds... heck outside of the 1st round at this rate.

I'm keeping my expectations low about Niemela but we'll see how he does when he moves over to North America.

Hell it would be nice to get back to Quinn/Ferguson era draft results. I'd be stoked if we got a less douchey Ian White out of Niemela.
And turned up a D+2 2nd round surprise like Stajan

 

[Fogelhund]

He's currently 7th in the league in scoring, at 19 years old... he sure does show some promise, and it wouldn't shock me to see him do very well at the WJC. But being a NHL quality D man, is a long ways from dominating the WJC, or Liga. He's promising for certain, but is still a prospect a few years from being NHL ready, if he ever gets that far.

There is this thread on him, well worth the read.

Strong offensively, in transition... needs work in his zone.. but he's small and young... hopefully he puts on some muscle, that doesn't affect his skating, and he learns the D game more... at least learning D, is easier than teaching someone the offensive talents he has.

RD Topi Niemelä - Kärpät, Liiga (2020, 64th, TOR)

Watched about a third of his games. His minutes/usage have gotten progressively harder as the season has gone on and he's still managed to maintain his underlying numbers and points. I believe he's 2nd pair on paper but is top 2 in minutes per game on the team.

His ability to get shots through from the point is pretty unique. Very mobile, a rover all over the ice.

Transitional defense is easily his standout trait. Reads lanes/plays at a high level and intercepts passes way ahead of time. Biggest weakness is he's still pretty slim and gets outmuscled on the cycle and in front of the net but he has a solid battle level and willingness to engage physically. Still needs to mature physically but from an IQ standpoint he's a beast.

On pace to comfortably break the all-time Liiga record for U20 points by a defender, even if he leaves for the WJC. If he keeps this up he's going to be a blue chip prospect by the new year.

 

[SprDaVE]

Hell it would be nice to get back to Quinn/Ferguson era draft results. I'd be stoked if we got a less douchey Ian White out of Niemela.
And turned up a D+2 2nd round surprise like Stajan

We seem to find players and that's better than nothing... just not star players or high level ones. It'd be nice if Niemela could be our Klingberg or Parayko at the very least.

 

[Stephen]

It would be nice if the Leafs could finally draft and develop a star player outside of the first 2 rounds... heck outside of the 1st round at this rate.

I'm keeping my expectations low about Niemela but we'll see how he does when he moves over to North America.

Agreed. I’m keeping expectations really low on this pick and will let Niemela jump through the hoops he needs to. The thing that I’m not sure about is what kind of blueline group he would be promoted to eventually with a guy like Sandin ahead of him.

 

[kb]

shows promise, but Liga hardly puts out stars. If he dominated the swedish league like this, omg....

Miro Heiskanen was pretty recent.....

 

[123offtheglass]

I've always thought that he's gonna turn out to be a stud defenseman, was so pumped when they drafted him. Seems like a late bloomer who slipped to the Leafs in the 3rd round.

 

[Tak7]

Who knows. Prospects in general are so hard to predict, but even more-so with Dmen.
Let's not get carried until he gives us cause to.

 

[Ziggdiezan]

Yup, hes having a great year offensively, but I havent seen much of him personally(outside the WJC) to know what hes looked like this season.

Same here just have seen lots of talk from others about his great play this year and his stats seem to support that

 

[Maplebeasts]

He's ok.

 

[Morgs]

He's my favourite Leaf prospect besides Liljegren. Had him as a 1st round pick in his draft year (28th) because of his outstanding defensive play in the top-4 in Liiga as a D0. His transition play, puck skills, and physicality stood out as well, and I thought he looked like a modern-day NHL defenseman with limited offensive upside (similar to a Dermott). Since then it seems like his defensive play has taken a bit of a back seat (not transition defense, which is still amazing) and some questions have developed about his ability to defend in zone (especially getting outmuscled), but the offense has taken a MAJOR leap in the last year+.

Last season Karpat took him out of the top-4 and gave him easy minutes (which he crushed), which was most likely due to injuries and leaving for the WJC (which he crushed, and won best defenseman at the tournament). It's hard to get a real read on last season though because it was so limited, he played very sheltered, and they really didn't put him in a position to succeed offensively besides 5v5:

Player Name

Age

Pos

League

GP

Goals

Points

PPG

NHLe

rel.CF%

Rel.FF%

ATOI

OZS%

oiSH%

Niemela, Topi

D1

RHD

Liiga

15

0

4

0.27

7.9

9.6%

-

15:30

59.8%

9.9%

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

This season he's over 20 minutes a game, getting harder zone starts, real PP time, and he's keeping his head well above water (besides his goalies .875 sv% with him on the ice), and producing at a clip never seen by a defenseman his age:

Player Name

Age

Pos

League

GP

Goals

Points

PPG

NHLe

rel.CF%

Rel.FF%

ATOI

OZS%

oiSH%

Niemela, Topi

D2

RHD

Liiga

18

3

16

0.89

26.4

4.6%

-

20:11

51.7%

12.3%

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

At the moment he's in my top-tier of prospects for this team (Liljegren, Sandin, Robertson, Amirov). With Robby/Amirov getting injured and the fact both Liljegren and Sandin should be graduating, I wouldn't be surprised if he was #1 for me by the end of this season. He's incredible.

 

[zeke]

#FreeTopi

 

[Menzinger]

Generally speaking I've been a bit surprised by the general lack of enthusiasm for some of the teams Euro draft selections despite their fairly impressive performances of late.

Part of this is obviously due to the North American location bias of most Leafs fans, but can't help but wonder if some of these guys were putting up huge numbers on a chl team if there would be more interest/hype

 

[acrobaticgoalie]

Obviously looked great at the world juniors, looks like theres some nice upside there. But, I've also learned to not get too far ahead of myself based on one world junior tournament. I'd have him somewhere in our top 3 prospects, assuming Sandin and Liljegren graduate.

On track to crush the scoring record for D men u20 in Liiga. Hes been phenomenal since being drafted. I love both he and Amirov as prospects for us and think they both have serious upside.

 

[The Podium]

Yup, hes having a great year offensively, but I havent seen much of him personally(outside the WJC) to know what hes looked like this season.

He’s a D better known for his defense but is putting up a historic offensive season against men

 

[Tak7]

Generally speaking I've been a bit surprised by the general lack of enthusiasm for some of the teams Euro draft selections despite their fairly impressive performances of late.

As you mentioned, a part of this is because they aren't North American based, meaning the average Leafs fan doesn't know anything about these kids.

It's also due to the fact that a player's success in Europe means absolutely nothing in North America - we've seen plenty of players succeed in Europe, only to struggle immensely when coming here. Success in Europe isn't a great indicator of success in the North American game.

 

[TheScandal89]

He looks like one of the only really good picks Dubas made. I still remember on draft day looking thru the mock draft, I saw his height and weight and knew it was a Dubas pick

But what he needs to do, like Robertson, is get stronger. I believe he sustained a fairly serious shoulder injury being out manned along the boards last year.