Topi Niemelä is having a breakout offensive year and we need to talk about it

Photo by Codie McLachlan/Getty ImagesTopi Niemelä was drafted by the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2020 at 64th overall, right at the start of the third round. They had traded down with their second round pick so they could draft both Roni Hirvonen, another Finnish prospect, and Niemelä.

And right now, he is having a massive offensive breakout in Finland’s pro league that is almost unprecedented for his age. I think it’s time we start talking about it.

First, Some Background and Context

Niemelä was always an interesting prospect for me. 2020 was the first draft I started really paying attention to draft prospects before the draft happened — the pandemic helped with that. I never watched any of his…