Sami Niku Looks to Crack the Jets' Lineup

With the Stanley Cup final at an end, it’s officially time to close the book on 2017-18 and start tweaking your team for the 2018-19 campaign. Here are a few players that earned a taste of NHL action this past year, but could be in line for a bigger role and pay dividends this coming season.

Sammy Blais – STL

No player in the St. Louis organization has been as unheralded, or impressive, over the past couple of years than Sammy Blais. Not selected until the sixth round in 2014 when he was just one point shy of averaging a point-per-game in the QMJHL, Blais has been on an upward trajectory ever since. Post draft he put together back-to-back 82 point campaigns, mostly with the Victoriaville Tigres before a 2015 trade sent him to the Charlottetown Islanders who had an eye on a deep playoff run. Blais proved to be a shrewd add as he played 33 regular season games for the Islanders, registering 42 points, and led them in scoring in the playoffs with 19 points, including a team-best 15 helpers, in 12 playoff contests outscoring such notable teammates as Daniel Sprong and Filip Chlapik.

The most eye-opening thing about Blais has been how seamlessly he has adapted to pro hockey. As an AHL rookie in 2016-17, Blais found the back of the net 26 times, the second-best mark on the Chicago Wolves and second best among AHL rookies behind Mark Jankowski, and added 17 assists for 43 points in 75 games. An especially impressive figure as just six of those 43 points were secondary assists. Anyone expecting Blais to suffer a sophomore slump in 2017-18 was sorely mistaken as he had an even better year number two.  He averaged nearly a point per game for the Blues new AHL affiliate, the San Antonio Rampage, as he was far and away from their most lethal offensive player. He finished second on the team in goals with 17, first in assists with 23, and second in points with 40. He finished just four points back of team leader Andrew Agozzino despite player 30 fewer games. The reason he played so few games for the Rampage is that he earned a call-up to the Blues for 11 games. Blais averaged less than 11 minutes of ice time per game scoring once and adding two helpers and showed that he wasn’t afraid to throw his body around either registering 15 hits. One of the better pure goal scorers in the system, he’s certainly earned everything that’s come his way through hard work and his skills. With a number of RFA’s and UFA’s among the forward ranks in St. Louis, it’ll be interesting to see how active they are come free agency, and whether or not Blais can stake claim to a roster spot in the fall.

Louis Belpedio – MIN

Outside of a handful of players, the whole Minnesota Wild prospect pool is about as exciting watching grass grow, especially when it comes to defense. But the one potential shining light is Louie Belpedio. A third-round selection in 2014, Belpedio spent the full four years in the college ranks with Miami University. He consistently improved his offensive output year-over-year and was either first or second on the RedHawks in scoring by a defender. He started off his college career with 19 points in 40 games, working out to an average of 0.48 points-per-game and improved this figure to 0.5 ppg in his sophomore season, 0.71 as a junior, culminating with 30 points in 37 contests as a senior. Belpedio finished 12^th in the NCAA in defenseman scoring and fourth in the conference. His point-per-game mark of 0.81 was also fourth best in the conference.

While primarily a playmaker, he’s no stranger to shooting the puck as evidenced by conference-best best 126 shots on goal, a 3.41 shot per game average. Belpedio closed out his college career by being named to the NCHC Second All-Star team. It’s been a four year wait for the Wild to get him under contract but they finally did, first on an ATO and then signing him to his entry-level deal at the start of April. After a 10 game stint in the AHL Belpedio was called up and saw action in his first NHL game which saw him register a pair of assists over nearly 16 minutes.  He’s not the biggest guy but owns as dynamic a skillset as there is to find among blue lines in the Wild pipeline.

Sami Niku – WIN

As if the Winnipeg Jets don't already have a plethora of young talent making significant contributions at the NHL level, there's more on the way for the Jets as they had the top scoring rookie in the form of Mason Appleton as well as the top scoring rookie defender in Sami Niku. The longest of long shots when he was drafted in the seventh round in the 2015 draft, Niku has experienced somewhat of a meteoric rise up the Jets prospects ranks. In the two seasons immediately after being drafted, Niku competed for JYP of the Liiga posting 11 points in 2015-16 then making a big jump to 27 in 2016-17. These 27 points placed him fifth among all U21 scorers in the league and was seventh in defenseman scoring.

Signed to an entry-level deal at the end of his Liiga season, Niku crossed the Atlantic to compete in North America for the first time in the 2017-18. Not a whole lot was expected out of him, but he made a strong impression in the Jets prospect camp but ultimately couldn’t parlay it into a roster spot as he was send down to the AHL. But he didn’t get discouraged as Niku went on to have a dominant season. In 76 games for the Manitoba Moose, the Finn posted 16 goals and 38 assists finishing second among defensemen in goals, assists and points and was the third highest scoring rookie in the league behind Appleton and Sprong. With play like this, it’s no surprise that Niku earned a call up to the Jets at the end of the year where he suited up for just one game but made an impact, scoring his first NHL goal. The accolades came rolling in for Niku at year’s end as he earned AHL All-Rookie Team and AHL First All-Star Team honours and won the Eddie Shore Award as the AHL’s Best Defenseman. He’s quickly cemented himself as the top defensive prospect in the system and will look to carve out a permanent role in the Jets line-up in the fall.

As always thanks for checking out this week’s edition of The Journey. Give me a follow on Twitter @BradHPhillips. Make sure you pick up a copy of the Fantasy Prospect Guide right here! Enjoy your weekend!

More from The Journey:  Stanley Cup Finalists’ Prospects