October 6, 2022 by Ryan Lotsberg

General Manager Ken Holland said that Philip Broberg would have to play his way off the team in training camp to not be on the Edmonton Oilers opening night roster. Broberg hasn’t had a spectacular camp, but he hasn’t been so poor as to have played himself off the team. However, he has a little bit of competition in the form of Markus Niemelainen.

I dove into their preseason games to see if I could find anything to separate the two combatants in their battle for a depth roster spot on the Oilers.

Game 1:

Niemelainen: 1G, +2, 1 SOG, 6 Hits, 3 Blks, 1 giveaway, 15:25 TOI. 

He scored on a wrist shot from the point where he changed his release point as he moved towards the middle of the ice after receiving a pass from the right corner. It was a nice goal. His hits and his blocked shots were noteworthy in this game.

Game 2:

Niemelainen: -1, 2 PIM, 1 SOG, 5 hits, 1 giveaway, 17:49 TOI.

He wasn’t at fault for his “minus” play. Once again, his hitting stood out on the scoresheet.

17:20 2nd period: He failed to identify the most dangerous option (Oliver Bjorkstrand), which resulted in Bjorkstrand getting a quality shot against. 

13:41 3rd period: He stood at the side of the net after failing to get a backhand past a Kraken player in the right corner. The puck went right back to his man and he failed to pin him against the boards. He went to the near post, and his man went to the far post. He stood and watched a scoring chance unfold.

Broberg: -1, 22:18 TOI, 3 SOG. 

He was in the right position for his “minus” play. He didn’t have any noticeable major defensive gaffes. Three shots on goal stands out here.

Game 3:

Niemelainen: -2, 1 SOG, 6 Hits, 1 blk, 19:18 TOI. 

There are no game highlights posted for this game. My analysis of Niemelainen’s play immediately after watching the game that night was this:

Niemelainen inexplicably got caught forechecking behind the Flames net, and the Flames went the other way for an odd man rush. They didn’t score on that rush, but that rush led to an extended shift in the Oilers zone which led to a goal against. Niemelainen laid a big hit near the blue line early in the third, but he wasn’t able to get into a defending position before [Jason] Demers got stuck in a two on one situation down low that resulted in a dangerous chance against. Hits are great, but not if they leave you out of position. This pairing was also on the ice for the third goal against.

Game 4:

Broberg: 1A, +1, 2 SOG, 12:58 TOI. 

There are no game highlights posted for this game either. The only Oilers regular defenceman not in the lineup for this game was Tyson Barrie. This was the Oilers’ strongest roster in the preseason to date, and Broberg was a part of it. That is notable. He was solid in limited time.

Game 5:

Niemelainen: 2 PIMS, 1 SOG, 5 Hits, 5 Blks, 3 giveaways, 19:31 TOI.

Once again, his hits and blocked shots jump off the scoresheet. His three giveaways also jump off the scoresheet, but in a worse way. 

16:32 1st – He lost a puck battle behind the net which resulted in a dangerous chance against.

Broberg: 1A, +1, 2 SOG, 2 Blks, 21:29 TOI. 

17:15 1st – He awkwardly tried to knock a puck down in the neutral zone with one hand on his stick when he could’ve simply knocked it down with his hand. that resulted in him almost getting walked. Instead, it merely resulted in a shot on goal. 

14:47 1st – He did a nice job of defending Brad Lambert one-on-one and letting the puck slide to Stuart Skinner. 

3:24 1st – He was out to kill a 5-on-3, although Winnipeg scored on that 5-on-3. The fact that he was trusted in that situation says something. He got into the correct shooting lane, but the Jets stacked a second man beneath Broberg and that was who scored. I have a hard time faulting anyone on a 5-on-3 goal against.

11:14 3rd – The puck bounced off the referee’s skate in Broberg’s corner after Derek Ryan and a Jet tried to play the puck at the same time. This resulted in a Winnipeg goal on the other side of the ice. That isn’t Broberg’s fault. 

Broberg was on the ice to start the overtime period in this game. He was trusted by the coaches in two big situations. 

Game 7:

Niemelainen: 2A, 1 SOG, 2 PIMS. 

Niemelainen made a nice pass up the left wing to Connor McDavid who made the pass over to James Hamblin for the goal. Niemelainen was credited with the only assist on Zach Hyman’s short-handed goal, but it should’ve been the second assist. He swatted at the puck along the left boards, and he whiffed on it. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins came over and made the pass to Hyman. Let’s not go crazy with the praise for Niemelainen on that play.

Broberg: -1. 

Broberg was on the ice when Ryan McLeod gave the puck away to Conor Garland, which resulted in an unassisted goal for Garland. Broberg was the first one back on the play. This goal against was not his fault. However, Broberg failed to tie up sticks in front of the net on two of the Canucks’ powerplay goals.

Niemelainen has three points to Broberg’s two points. I have a hard time giving an advantage to a player when one of his assists was on a whiffed clearing attempt. I’m calling that a wash between the two.

Niemelainen has taken three penalties while Broberg has taken none. The other category that Niemelainen leads in is giveaways (5-0). Niemelainen’s hitting is great, but that doesn’t overshadow his giveaways and his penalties. It also doesn’t overshadow the fact that he has made more poor defensive plays than Broberg has by my eye.

The coaches have put Broberg out in more situations where trusted players are preferred. Broberg has received more ice time than Niemelainen has in every game in which they have both dressed thus far, not including Monday night’s game where ice time wasn’t recorded. Broberg has also been skating with Tyson Barrie all throughout camp, whereas Niemelainen has been skating with Jason Demers mostly. All of those factors should be telling.

Niemelainen does some things well, but he needs to cut down on his defensive mistakes and be more sure with the puck before making the jump to the NHL. People fall in love with the hits, but don’t be fooled by them. Niemelainen still needs time in Bakersfield.

I don’t believe that Broberg has played his way off the team at all. Broberg hasn’t had a spectacular camp, but the expectations for him coming in were higher than they were for Niemelainen. Broberg has had a camp that is consistent with what I would expect from a depth defenceman, and we know that he has a higher gear than this. I’ll be flabbergasted if Niemelainen makes the team over Broberg.