FORMER OILERS DEFENCEMAN MARKUS NIEMELAINEN SIGNS CONTRACT WITH EISBäREN BERLIN
Former Edmonton Oilers defenceman Markus Niemelainen has signed a contract with Eisbären Berlin of Germany’s Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL), according to Jim Matheson of the Edmonton Journal.
The hulking defender became a Group VI unrestricted free agent this summer and wasn’t able to find an opportunity with an NHL club after an injury-riddled season with the Bakersfield Condors.
The Oilers selected Niemelainen in the third round of the 2016 NHL Draft from the Saginaw Spirit of the Ontario Hockey League. Born in Kuopio, Finland, Niemelainen spent one more season playing major junior in Canada before returning to his home country to continue his development.
After three seasons playing in Liiga, the top professional league in Finland, the Oilers inked Niemelainen to a two-year, entry-level contract. He joined the Condors for the shortened 2020-21 season and took on a larger role on the team’s blueline in 2021-22.
A combination of strong play and injuries to Edmonton’s blueline earned Niemelainen his first NHL call-up in December of 2021. The big Finn logged 13:12 per night over 20 games with the Oilers in his debut but moved down the depth chart after the team acquired Brett Kulak from the Montreal Canadiens in a trade deadline move.
Shortly before that trade, the Oilers and Niemelainen agreed to a two-year contract extension worth $762k annually. The 2022-23 season saw Niemelainen bounce back and forth between Bakersfield and Edmonton a few times. He logged 10:02 over 23 games in the NHL and didn’t record any points.
Niemelainen lost his spot as Edmonton’s big, rugged, shot-blocking defender when the team brought Vincent Desharnais up from the Condors in January of 2023. Desharnais had been one of Bakersfield’s best defencemen and was expected to compete for a spot with the Oilers but suffered an injury in training camp that delayed the start of his 2022-23 campaign.
Not long after, the Oilers acquired Mattias Ekholm from the Nashville Predators, solidifying the blueline that the team would use over the next year and a half. Niemelainen was sent to the Condors for the rest of the year and cleared through waivers at the beginning of the following season. Over 35 games with Bakersfield in 2023-24, Niemelainen scored one goal and five points and posted a plus-two rating.
The Oilers are going into the 2024-25 season with a thinner blueline than the one they had last season. Mattias Ekholm and Evan Bouchard will again be the top pairing, Darnell Nurse figures to play alongside Ty Emberson on the second, and Brett Kulak has Troy Stecher and Josh Brown as options for his partner on the third. Beyond those names, the Oilers have Travis Dermott coming to training camp on a professional tryout, and Connor Carrick, Cam Dineen, and Ben Gleason are among the veteran options in the AHL.
Want more articles like this? Follow Oilersnation on MSN to see more of our exclusive NHL content.
More must-reads:
2024-09-13T15:20:21Z dg43tfdfdgfd