Sami Niku

#15Defenseman

2021-22 regular season

SOG

0.0% SH

15:17

TOI/GP

D · MTL · NHL id 8478915

Sami Niku has played 13 games for the Montreal Canadiens in 2021-22, scoring 0 goals and 6 assists (6 points) on 14 shots while averaging 15:17 a night (12:47 at even strength, 2:06 on the power play and 0:17 shorthanded). At 5v5 the Canadiens have controlled 45% of shot attempts with Niku on the ice (8-6 in goals, 50% offensive-zone starts). In the Canadiens' most recent game against BOS he was on D2 with Chris Wideman and off the power play; moved up to D1 (from D3) in the last game. He is shooting 0.0% this season against 3.1% across the 67 games in our data.

Right now

From the Jan 12 game vs BOS, detected from shift data

Pair

Chris Wideman

Power play

No PP unit

Penalty kill

No PK unit

Moved up to D1 (from D3) in the last gameLost his PP1 spot in the last gameLast 5: D3/PP1 · D3/PP1 · D3/PP2 · D2/PP2 · D1

Deployment timeline

2021-22 · per-game ice time by strength, with line and power-play unit changes

Even strength
Power play
Penalty kill
5-game average
Did not play
▲ promoted · ▼ demoted

8 games shown, 15:31 average. Line and PP unit come from where the player's ice time ranks among his teammates that night.

NHL EDGE tracking

2021-22 percentiles among skaters at his position

Source: NHL EDGE

Only 13 GP in 2021-22: NHL EDGE percentiles are noisy before about 15-20 games.

Top speed18th1820.6 mph

Bursts 20+ mph21st214

Hardest shot22nd2286.7 mph

Offensive-zone time77th7843.7%

Distance skated24th2429.4 mi

High-danger SOG1st00

Percentile among position peers│ tick = 3-season weighted

Season-level NHL EDGE puck and player tracking, refreshed nightly. The percentile is the league rank among skaters this season; the label at the right is the raw value.

Shot map

2021-22 · 27 attempts, 14 on goal, 0 goals

Even strength
Power play
Penalty kill
Goal
Shot on goal
Missed
Blocked

Every attempt (goals, shots, misses and blocks), attacking toward the right (or the top on phones).

Puck luck

2021-22 · cumulative goals against expected goals from his own shots

Actual goals
Expected
±1σ
Above expected
Below expected

Beyond the box score

2021-22 regular season · 13 of 13 games through the sequence engine

Method Leaders

: −0.033
Season net: −0.09xG

Offensive TK/600.00 (0)

Offensive GV/600.00 (0)

Neutral TK/600.00 (0)

Neutral GV/600.36 (1)

Defensive TK/600.73 (2)

Defensive GV/601.09 (3)

5-on-5. Each takeaway is credited, and each giveaway charged, at the league xG value of the zone.

Method Leaders

Per 60: 0.36
Attempts: 1
: 0.000

5-on-5 shots within 10 seconds of winning the puck outside the offensive zone.

Method Leaders

Season: +0.00G
Per 60: +0.000
Drawn / taken: 1 / 1minors

Method Leaders

: 51.9%
: 59.1%
: 51.5%
Transition CF/60: 2.9
Turnovers won/60: 15.3
Turnovers lost/60: 17.1

5-on-5 while he is on the ice.

Linemates

2021-22 · 5v5 time together and how each pairing performs with and without Niku

No 5v5 pairing data this season yet.

Game log

13 games in 2021-22, newest first

Season

Date	Opp	Result	A	P	+/-		PIM	HIT	BLK			EV	PP	PK
Jan 12	@ BOS	L 1-5	0	0	-2	3	0	1	2	—	18:33	17:03	—	1:30
Jan 1	@ FLA	L 2-5	2	2	+2	2	0	0	2	—	20:40	17:29	1:24	1:26
Dec 30	@ CAR	L 0-4	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	—	15:07	11:19	3:41	0:07
Dec 28	@ TBL	OTL 4-5	1	1	+1	0	0	0	0	—	12:59	8:48	4:11	—
Nov 29	vs VAN	L 1-2	0	0	0	0	0	1	2	—	16:21	11:43	3:07	0:11
Nov 27	@ PIT	W 6-3	1	1	+1	0	0	1	1	—	14:50	9:46	4:48	0:16
Nov 26	@ BUF	L 1-4	0	0	0	0	0	0	5	—	12:57	12:51	—	0:06
Nov 24	@ WSH	L 3-6	0	0	-2	4	0	0	1	—	14:25	14:05	0:20	—
Nov 2	vs DET	W 3-0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	11:31	10:26	1:05	—
Oct 30	@ LAK	L 2-5	0	0	0	1	0	0	2	—	14:57	12:42	2:15	—
Oct 28	@ SJS	W 4-0	0	0	+1	0	0	0	0	—	15:23	13:25	1:58	—
Oct 26	@ SEA	L 1-5	0	0	-1	2	2	2	1	—	15:26	13:40	1:46	—
Oct 23	vs DET	W 6-1	2	2	+3	1	0	1	1	—	15:32	12:52	2:40	—

Season splits by strength

2021-22 regular season · on-ice numbers from shift and play-by-play data

Strength	GP		TOI/GP						SA	GF	GA	GF%
All situations	13	198:41	15:17	173	171	50.3%	52.2%	106	89	10	6	63%	9.3	8.2	62%
Even strength	13	166:09	12:47	138	161	46.2%	48.4%	86	85	9	6	60%	7.3	6.8	52%
5v5	13	165:01	12:42	134	161	45.4%	47.7%	83	85	8	6	57%	7.2	6.8	50%
Power play	11	27:15	2:29	32	6	84.2%	82.8%	18	2	1	0	100%	1.9	0.4	100%
Penalty kill	6	3:36	0:36	1	3	25.0%	33.3%	1	2	0	0	—	0.0	0.2	0%
5v4	11	27:15	2:29	32	6	84.2%	82.8%	18	2	1	0	100%	1.9	0.4	100%
4v5	6	3:36	0:36	1	3	25.0%	33.3%	1	2	0	0	—	0.0	0.2	0%

Career by season

Seasons in Edgehalla's data (2025-26 is being backfilled; earlier seasons follow)

Season	Team	GP	G	A	P	+/-	PIM			HIT	BLK	TOI/GP
2021-22	MTL	13	0	6	6	+3	2	14	0.0%	6	17	15:17
2020-21	WPG	6	0	0	0	-3	8	2	0.0%	0	7	12:58
2019-20	WPG	17	0	5	5	-2	12	27	0.0%	16	19	16:10
2018-19	WPG	30	1	3	4	0	2	19	5.3%	10	30	13:55
2017-18	WPG	1	1	0	1	0	0	2	50.0%	0	3	15:13

On-ice and deployment numbers are derived by Edgehalla from NHL play-by-play and shift data. Tracking percentiles are from NHL EDGE. Data updates after every game.

Right now

Deployment timeline

NHL EDGE tracking

Shot map

Puck luck

Beyond the box score

Turnover LedgerTurnover Ledger (TO±)Takeaways credited and giveaways charged at the league xG value of the zone where possession changed, per 60.Glossary →

Transition attemptsTransition attempt (TRN)An attempt within 10 s of a turnover, recovery, hit-forced recovery or faceoff win in the neutral or defensive zone, in the same play.Glossary →

Penalty ValuePenalty Value (PenV)Minor penalties drawn minus taken, times the net xG of a power play (about 0.20 per two-minute minor).(minors drawn − minors taken) × 0.20Glossary →

On-ice sequence resultsSequence xG (sxG)xG adjusted for flurries: a rebound only counts for the chance that the earlier shots in the same play did not already score.sxG_i = xG_i × Π (1 − xG_j) over earlier same-team shots in the playGlossary →

Linemates

Game log

Season splits by strength

Career by season