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Niklas Nevalainen Elite Prospects ↗

Position: Defense DOB: 1993-06-28 Country: Finland
Signed Professionally
Liiga

Set Commitment

NCAA Division I

NCAA D3 / D2

Career Trajectory
Dashed = raw PPG  ·  ■ Solid blue = age-adjusted NCAAe-PPG  ·  ■ Green = actual college PPG
Junior Seasons
Season Team League GP G A Pts PPG NCAAe-PPG Age-Adj D3e-PPG Age-Adj
2011-12 Ässät U20 SM-Liiga-Jr 48 13 22 35 0.729 0.3884 0.3843 1.0308 1.0200
2012-13 Dubuque Fighting Saints USHL 60 5 28 33 0.550 0.3502 0.3345 1.6482 1.5745
2017-18 Sport Liiga 57 0 16 16 0.281 — — — —
2018-19 Sport Liiga 47 4 14 18 0.383 — — — —
2019-20 Sport Liiga 55 2 11 13 0.236 — — — —
2020-21 — Liiga 26 0 2 2 0.077 — — — —
■ Blue = NCAAe (D1 anchor)   ■ Green = D3e (D3 anchor)   COVID-flagged seasons highlighted in yellow
College Seasons (Historical)
Season School Div Conference Year GP G A Pts PPG
2016-17 St. Cloud State D1 NCHC SR 28 1 9 10 0.357
2015-16 St. Cloud State D1 NCHC JR 39 2 21 23 0.590
2014-15 St. Cloud State D1 NCHC SO 34 0 7 7 0.206
2013-14 St. Cloud State D1 NCHC FR 35 2 6 8 0.229
Pre-College Projection vs. Actual Freshman Year
Projected PPG
0.33
before college
→
Actual FR PPG
0.23
2013-14 · St. Cloud State
-31.7% vs. projection

NCAAe Rankings

#716
Defenseman overall
#258
Defenseman born in 1993

D1 Comparables

Tucker Poolman
USHL · 2012-13 · 0.44 PPG
→ North Dakota (0.45 D1 FR PPG)
0.27 Strong D
NCAAe PPG
Mike McKee
USHL · 2012-13 · 0.50 PPG
→ Western Michigan (0.05 D1 FR PPG)
0.31 Developing D
NCAAe PPG
Christopher Dienes
USHL · 2012-13 · 0.45 PPG
→ Western Michigan (0.15 D1 FR PPG)
0.27 Average D
NCAAe PPG
Nick Neville
NAHL · 2012-13 · 0.58 PPG
→ Denver (0.10 D1 FR PPG)
0.21 Developing D
NCAAe PPG
Jared Kolquist
USHL · 2012-13 · 0.47 PPG
→ Merrimack (0.14 D1 FR PPG)
0.29 Developing D
NCAAe PPG

D2/3 Comparables

Scott Hudson
Manhattanville · 2007-08
1.231 Elite
actual D2/3 PPG
Geordan Buffoline
New England · 2018-19
1.667 Elite
actual D2/3 PPG
Brett Gravelle
St. Thomas · 2014-15
0.923 Strong
actual D2/3 PPG

How to read this: NCAAe and D3e factors convert a player's junior PPG into expected NCAA scoring at the D1 or D3 level. Harder conferences → lower projected PPG for the same player. A strong junior player (e.g. USHL 0.90 PPG) will project much higher in NESCAC than Big Ten because the D3 scoring environment is lower-difficulty.

Strength factor: conferences above 1.0 are harder than average; below 1.0 are easier. The formula is: Base NCAAe PPG ÷ Conference Strength = Projected PPG.