“If I had a nickel for every time (something happened), I’d have two nickles. Which isn’t a lot but it’s weird that it happened twice.” It’s an overused meme at this point, but it’s the first thing I thought of when revisiting Topi Niemela’s 2022 World Junior Championship effort.
We have updated the criteria from previous editions of TLN’s prospect rankings regarding who is considered a “prospect” for the purpose of this exercise.
If you’ve followed this series at all, you know that most top contenders have brutal prospect pipelines. The Toronto Maple Leafs are no exception.
Finnish defenseman Topi Niemela is the top prospect in the Maple Leafs organization. During a 10-day period that will span from August 7-18, I will be releasing my rankings (from 10-1) of who I believe is the closest prospect to playing full-time NHL hockey with the Maple Leafs.
Topi Niemela is ready for his first full season of professional hockey in North America. Niemela, selected in the third round (64th overall) of the 2020 NHL Draft, had a short stint with the Toronto Marlies following his final season with Kärpät in the Finnish Elite League.
I’ll discuss four topics in this edition of Toronto Maple Leafs News & Rumors. First, I’ll talk about what game theory suggests about how the Maple Leafs can best take advantage of the random luck that’s involved in winning the Stanley Cup.
The Toronto Maple Leafs face important decisions about a number of different players during the offseason. One of them is the promising prospect, Topi Niemela.
With the NHL’s Trade Deadline in full swing and Kyle Dubas and the Toronto Maple Leafs right in the heart of the headlines, prospects have been a topic of conversation when it comes to what the Maple Leafs might package in any leftover trades.
The purpose of this post is to review the play of the three Toronto Maple Leafs’ prospects who suited up for the tournament. Two played with Team Finland – Roni Hirvonen and Topi Niemela.
Toronto Maple Leafs prospects Topi Niemela and Roni Hirvonen fell just short in their bid to guide Finland to World Junior Championship gold. Kent Johnson scored the winning goal in overtime as Canada defeated the Finns 3-2.
Toronto Maple Leafs prospect Topi Niemela picked up a crucial secondary assist for Finland to help his team advance to the final at the 2022 World Junior Championship with a 1-0 win over Sweden.
The quarterfinals of the World Juniors are a bit of a scrimmage for Canada, Sweden, the United States, and Finland. With Russia absent, and Czechia not at their best this tournament, it seems like we are going to be treated to an upset-free, status quo preliminary round today.
Canada is a bit of a tough customer for the two Leafs prospects compared to the rest of the division. Roni Hirvonen especially had to scoring at will and it was an entirely different reality against Canada.
Toronto Maple Leafs prospects Roni Hirvonen and Topi Niemela continue to put up points at the 2022 World Junior Championships in Edmonton, Alberta. Finland scored early and often against Slovakia, defeating them 9-3 to remain unbeaten in Group A action.
Toronto Maple Leafs prospect Topi Niemela has his first point at the 2022 World Junior Championship when he and fellow Leafs prospect Roni Hirvonen assisted on Aatu Raty's goal in the third period of Finland's 4-3 shootout victory against Czechia.
In this first edition of Toronto Maple Leafs News & Rumors, I’ll take a look at the future of the Maple Leafs’ franchise – especially its roster. Changes need to be made, but the question remains about how radical they should be. In this post, I’ll share some of the fans’ thoughts but also take some time to look to the future.
So here’s the thing. This really shouldn’t be a surprise at this point. Roni Hirvonen has been playing very well for some time, and Topi Niemela…well…no Finnish defenseman in the history of Liiga is having a season like he’s having.
Ever since Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Kyle Dubas took over in May 2018, he’s had four drafts to work with. It’s far too early to judge how these drafts went for the team, but there are certainly a couple of prospects that look like they’re going to pan out beyond the expectation based on where they were drafted.
Welcome back to another edition of Toronto Maple Leafs Prospect Weekly, a series where I get you up to speed on Maple Leafs’ prospects, who are making headlines in the American Hockey League (AHL), Canadian Hockey League (CHL), NCAA, European Leagues, and everywhere in between.
The 2020 draft class is showing early indicators of positive returns. We’ll start with a couple of Finnish prospects from the organization’s ’20 class in today’s Leafs Prospect Update.
Welcome to a brand new column here at the Toronto Maple Leafs side of The Hockey Writers, Maple Leafs Prospects Weekly. In this series, I will be getting you up to speed on Maple Leafs prospects who are making headlines in the American Hockey League (AHL), Canadian Hockey League (CHL), NCAA, European Leagues, and everywhere in between.
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