Samuli Niinisaari Elite Prospects ↗

Position: Defense DOB: 1998-08-11 Country: Finland

Set Commitment

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Detected conference: () — projections will update automatically.

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Projecting as:

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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
2018-19	Lincoln Stars	USHL	60	7	13	20	0.333	0.1966	0.1802	1.0010	0.9175
2024-25	SaiPa	Liiga	60	4	11	15	0.250	0.6250	0.6353	2.1490	2.1843

■ 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
2023-24	UMass	D1	HockeyEast	—	27	3	9	12	0.444
2023-24	UMass Lowell	D1	HockeyEast	—	27	3	9	12	0.444
2022-23	Brown	D1	ECAC	—	30	0	8	8	0.267
2021-22	Brown	D1	ECAC	—	29	1	11	12	0.414
2019-20	Brown	D1	ECAC	FR	29	1	3	4	0.138

Pre-College Projection vs. Actual Freshman Year

Projected PPG

0.17

before college

→

Actual FR PPG

0.14

2019-20 · Brown

-18.9% vs. projection

College Pathway Likelihood (based on 40 comparables)

18%

NCAA D1

NCAA D2/D3

82%

Pro / Other

NCAAe Rankings

#1469

Defenseman overall

#329

Defenseman born in 1998

D2/3 Comparables

Jon Whitelaw

SUNY Oswego · 2008-09

1.357 Elite

actual D2/3 PPG

Cole Hepler

Lebanon Valley · 2015-16

1.280 Elite

actual D2/3 PPG

Shaquille Merasty

Adrian · 2011-12

1.357 Elite

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.