NHL Draft Prospect Profile: Markus Niemelainen

Get to Know Markus Niemelainen

Date of Birth: 6/8/1998
Place of Birth: Kuopio, FIN
Ht: 6’6″ Wt: 205 lbs
Shoots: Left
Position: Defense
Team (League): Saginaw Spirit (OHL)

Statistics

What Scouts See

Curtis Joe, Elite Prospects:

A complete all-around defenceman that makes the game look easy. Natural size and strength compliment his smooth stride. Very mobile skater who moves up and down the ice quickly, with acute recognition of puck and body position. His maturity and poise is actualized in his high-percentage decision-making, with and without the puck, as well as his proactive stick and body play. Very stable defensively and always takes his lane, but is quick to rush the puck up the ice as he recognizes and accounts for how much time his team is spending in their own end. All-in-all, a quick-thinking defenceman that, honestly lacking nothing, has the potential to develop into a reliable two-way defenceman.

Last Word on Sports:

Markus Niemelainen is mainly a defensive defender, but there are hints that a better offensive game may be lurking under the surface. He does have a hard slap shot, though he does not use it enough, and he needs to work on getting it on net and through traffic.  He also has a heavy wrist shot, but could use some work on his release. As mentioned above he does make a good breakout pass and starts the transition that way.  As the season went along and he became more confident, Niemelainen showed better puck skills, including poise when handling the puck at the blue line.

What BSN Avalanche sees

He’s huge, for one. What really stands out, though, is not his size but how it doesn’t seem to be a hindrance to him at all. Hockey size has kind of found the sweet spot to be about 6’4″, 210 pounds and Niemelainen projects to be significantly larger than that after filling out his frame a bit and bulking up. He’s not an awkward skater at all and it doesn’t really hold him back at all in my eyes. As you’d expect, he succeeds most in being a pure defensive stopper. Pucks come near him, he vacuums them up and spits them out the other direction.

He’s not a particular creative offensive player. He doesn’t hesitate when he gets the puck and he’s decisive but he almost always errs on the side of caution and rarely takes chances on creating breakouts going the other way. He’s about smart, efficient plays and while you can’t fault a player for operating that way it would be nice to see him try to broaden the horizons once in a while. Playing within yourself so tightly doesn’t allow much room for growth.

Highlights

NHL Potential

He’s nowhere near as physically dominant as he could be. This isn’t like watching a draft-eligible Nikita Zadorov blowing people up left and right. Niemelainen still has a long ways to go in his own end and developing more strength and power should help him become an overwhelming force in his own end.

Expected Draft Position

He probably should be a mid-round guy but I expect he’ll get drafted somewhere in the second or third.

How Prospect Fits in Avalanche Organization

Another player right in the Avalanche wheelhouse, Niemelainen would be an excellent fit for the Avs in terms of his size/skill ratio. While they don’t really need many more defensemen right away, if he’s still on the board and the organization hasn’t taken a defender yet then he’d be a great fit.