Penguins A to Z: Niclas Almari needs to move past an injury-filled 2020-21 season
With the Penguins in the midst of their offseason, the Tribune-Review is looking at all 50 players currently under NHL contracts to the organization in alphabetical order, from mid-level prospect Niclas Almari to top-six winger Jason Zucker.
Niclas Almari
Position: Defenseman
Shoots: Left
Age: 23
Height: 6-foot-1
Weight: 179 pounds
2020-21 Liiga statistics: 28 games, seven points (one goal, six assists)
Contract: Entering the final year of a three-year entry-level contract with a salary cap hit of $809,167. Pending restricted free agent in 2022.
Acquired: Fifth-round draft pick (No. 151 overall), June 25, 2016
2020-21 season: Like a lot of NHL teams, the Penguins tried to loan as many of their prospects as possible to European squads during the late summer/early fall in the pursuit of furthering their development. While most leagues in North America were on hiatus because of the pandemic, leagues in Europe forged ahead with their seasons.
For Almari, that meant him being loaned to the Lahden Pelicans of the Liiga, the top-tier league in his native Finland. Given the logistical challenges of bringing in a player from overseas during a pandemic, the Penguins opted to keep Almari in Finland, even when the American Hockey League (AHL) opened play in February.
After playing a solid 51 AHL games for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins during 2019-20 campaign, his first full season in North America, Almari was limited to 28 regular season Liiga games during 2020-21 primarily due to various injuries.
Appearing in three games in October, Almari suffered an undisclosed ailment Oct. 6 and was sidelined until Dec. 30.
Almari’s lone goal of the season was a game-winning score during a 5-0 home win against Vaasan on Jan. 14:
After missing another five weeks from mid-January to late February due to another undisclosed injury, Almari’s high point of the season was a two-assist performance in a 3-0 home win against Lukko on March 25. Finishing the season on the left side of the Pelicans’ top defensive pairing, Almari averaged 18:36 of ice time per contest.
In the playoffs, Almari appeared in five games and had no points as the Pelicans fell in the quarterfinal round.
The future: Not that anything was ideal for anybody in 2020-21, but Almari’s season was far from perfect given how many games he missed due to injury.
Assuming the 2021-22 AHL season opens without any hitches, Almari will likely return to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton in the fall and once against be one of that team’s top-four defensemen.
If Penguins management jettisons some of the surplus left-handed defensemen on the NHL roster and gives a promotion to high-end defensive prospect P.O Joseph, that would create plenty of chances to claim ample ice time in all areas of the rink for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s remaining defensemen, including Almari.
A safe, reliable defensive presence, Almari makes his bones preventing goals and is rarely involved in creating them. That said, Almari is more than competent with the puck, specifically in finding ways to get it out of the defensive zone.
Regardless, he needs to stay healthy and maximize whatever opportunity he is afforded next season as he enters the final year of his entry-level contract to prove he has a future with the Penguins and in the NHL.
Seth Rorabaugh is a TribLive reporter covering the Pittsburgh Penguins. A North Huntingdon native, he joined the Trib in 2019 and has covered the Penguins since 2007. He can be reached at srorabaugh@triblive.com.
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