Maple Leafs Prospect Report: Niemelä, Hirvonen, and Hildeby

Last week, I wrote a report on the Maple Leafs’ prospects playing in the Russian leagues. Since then, more of the European leagues are a few games into their seasons, so I got to watch some games of Niemelä, Hirvonen and Hildeby.

Topi Niemelä

Niemelä’s situation on Kärpät has changed since the peak of his offensive breakout last season. Their head coach was replaced, and their style changed to one more on defense. Niemelä’s role has also changed, both because of the coach’s roster makeup, new acquisitions, but also because of all the injuries his team had last year.

So far this season, Niemelä is playing on the second pairing RD. He is still on the top penalty kill unit, but no longer on the…