Edmonton Oilers place Markus Niemelainen on waivers

The Edmonton Oilers have placed depth defenseman Markus Niemelainen on waivers. He was a healthy scratch for the Oilers’ season-opening 8-1 loss to the Vancouver Canucks on Wednesday. Niemelainen split the 2022-23 season between Edmonton and Bakersfield of the AHL. He averaged 10 minutes of ice time per game in his 23-game stint with the Oilers, but did not score any points. He scored seven points in 30 games in the AHL.

Niemelainen was a third-round selection of the Oilers in the 2016 NHL Draft. A Finnish native, he came over to play two seasons in the OHL with the Saginaw Spirit for the 2015-16 and 2016-17 seasons. He scored 27 and 9 points in those two seasons, respectively. The 25-year-old defender is known as a defensive defenseman with limited offensive abilities. Since 2015-16, Niemelainen has played 414 games across many leagues including the OHL, SM-Liiga, Mestis, AHL, and NHL. In that span, he put up just 13 goals and 76 points.

Niemelainen will be sent down to the Bakersfield Condors, assuming he isn’t picked up by an NHL team on waivers. Considering the defenseman’s struggles and the fact that most teams have set their rosters for the season, it would be quite shocking if Niemelainen is claimed on waivers.

The tall defenseman has been struggling to establish himself as a two-way defender for the last couple of years and could be running out of time to become a full-time NHL player. He has played 43 games for the Oilers in the past two seasons, scoring zero goals and one assists, with a -2 rating and eight penalty minutes. He’s trending towards being a strong AHL defenseman who was unable to stick in the NHL. He should receive significant minutes in Bakersfield as well as a leadership role on their back end.