Maple Leafs defensive prospect may finally be ready to make his NHL debut

The 2020 NHL Entry Draft was a particularly busy one for the Leafs. In all, then GM Kyle Dubas drafted 12 young players. At the time, the Leafs did not have a 3rd round pick, and used their own 2nd round pick to trade down with the Ottawa Senators, landing picks number 59 and 64, which they used on Roni Hirvonen and the aforementioned Niemela.

Following his draft year, Niemela played 3 more seasons with Karpat in SM-liiga, Finland's top men's league. After a brief 6-game trial with the Toronto Marlies in 2022-23, Niemela finally made the transition over to North America full-time in 2023-24.

After playing against men in Finland, Niemela transitioned well during his first full North American season with the Marlies, racking up 8 goals and 39 points in 68 games. While there's still some potential for growth at the AHL level, some are wondering whether he's done enough to earn a look in the NHL.

At 22 years old, and having played so many seasons against men, Niemela may very well be ready, but defensemen do tend to take a little longer to develop, so it wouldn't be a surprise to see him spend another year in the American Hockey League. However, if the Leafs happen to trade Timothy Liljegren or Conor Timmins this summer, it could open the door for Niemela to come up and show what he can do at the NHL level as a depth defenseman.

The big question here seems to be "what is best for his development?" The obvious answer is we really don't know. Some players seem to handle the jump from the AHL to the NHL better than others. One thing that always seems to ring true, though, is that it never helps to rush guys who aren't ready, so if the Leafs have any doubts, it may make more sense to allow Niemela to dominate in the AHL for one more year before bringing him up in 2025-26.

The other option is for the Leafs to leave Niemela down in the American league for much of the year and recall him towards the end of the season if he stands out once again. This is likely the safest route and one that I'd expect the Leafs to explore.

Training camp is going to tell us a lot about where Niemela is at. A strong camp could very well force the Leafs' hand and we could yet see the team trade a defenseman to open up a roster spot if Niemela has proven enough to the brass in Toronto.