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Photo of Niklas Hjalmarsson

Niklas Hjalmarsson

#4 · Defence · Arizona Coyotes

Born Jun 6, 1987 in Eksjo, SWE · 6'3", 197 lb · Shoots left · Drafted 108th overall in 2005 by CHI (round 4)

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Compare with a similar player

The defencemen closest to him in points in 2020-21. Pick one to see the two side by side, or choose someone else.

Robert Bortuzzo STL · 5 P in 40 GP Ben Hutton TOR · 5 P in 38 GP Andrej Sekera DAL · 5 P in 46 GP Dean Kukan CBJ · 5 P in 35 GP Robert Hagg PHI · 5 P in 34 GP

Career

Regular season games only. Pick a season to see its game log below. Cap hit is what he counted against the salary cap that season, where it is known.

010202007-08: 1 points107-082008-09: 3 points308-092009-10: 17 points1709-102010-11: 10 points1010-112011-12: 15 points1511-122012-13: 10 points1012-132013-14: 26 points2613-142014-15: 19 points1914-152015-16: 24 points2415-162016-17: 18 points1816-172017-18: 9 points917-182018-19: 10 points1018-192019-20: 5 points519-202020-21: 5 points520-21

Points by season. The darker bar is the season shown below.

Season Team GP G A P +/- PIM Shots Hits P/GP Cap hit
2007-08 CHI 13 0 1 1 -2 13 5 8 0.08
2008-09 CHI 21 1 2 3 4 0 15 15 0.14
2009-10 CHI 77 2 15 17 9 20 62 59 0.22
2010-11 CHI 80 3 7 10 13 39 64 46 0.13 $3.5M
2011-12 CHI 69 1 14 15 9 14 65 42 0.22 $3.5M
2012-13 CHI 46 2 8 10 15 22 43 26 0.22 $3.5M
2013-14 CHI 81 4 22 26 11 34 98 39 0.32 $3.5M
2014-15 CHI 82 3 16 19 25 44 97 39 0.23 $4.1M
2015-16 CHI 81 2 22 24 13 32 77 32 0.30 $4.1M
2016-17 CHI 73 5 13 18 12 20 61 23 0.25 $4.1M
2017-18 ARI 48 1 8 9 -3 18 32 16 0.19 $4.1M
2018-19 ARI 82 0 10 10 8 44 57 45 0.12 $4.1M
2019-20 ARI 27 1 4 5 -2 14 18 20 0.19 $5M
2020-21 ARI 41 0 5 5 -6 18 29 15 0.12 $5M
14 seasons Career 821 25 147 172 106 332 723 425 0.21

Playoffs

Playoff games only. Pick a season to see that year's bracket.

Season Team GP G A P +/- PIM Shots Hits P/GP
2008-09 CHI 17 0 1 1 -2 6 10 9 0.06
2009-10 CHI 22 1 7 8 9 6 17 14 0.36
2010-11 CHI 7 0 2 2 4 2 5 9 0.29
2011-12 CHI 6 0 1 1 -3 4 3 5 0.17
2012-13 CHI 23 0 5 5 10 4 12 22 0.22
2013-14 CHI 19 0 4 4 -3 14 9 9 0.21
2014-15 CHI 23 1 5 6 6 8 24 16 0.26
2015-16 CHI 7 0 1 1 5 0 4 6 0.14
2016-17 CHI 4 0 0 0 -4 2 1 1 0.00
2019-20 ARI 9 0 1 1 -7 6 3 10 0.11
10 seasons Playoffs 137 2 27 29 15 52 88 101 0.21

2020-21 season totals

GP G A P +/- PIM Shots Hits P/GP Shooting % Avg TOI
41 0 5 5 -6 18 29 15 0.12 0.0 17:22

Contract

$5MCap hit2020-21
$1MCap dollars per point5 points in 41 games
$2.95MCap dollars per goal above replacement1.7 goals above replacement
$2.4MWorth at the going ratewhat teams paid for a season like his
-$2.6MValueworth minus cap hit; below zero is overpaid

His cap hit for the whole season, set against what he did in the regular season. Lower is better value. In a season still being played the cost per point starts high and falls as the games add up. Value is coloured by where it ranks among the 633 ranked skaters whose contract is known. How value is worked out.

The contract

Who signed him to it, and when, are not on record. When it ends is not known.

Contracts he has signed

Signed Signed by Kind Seasons Years In all Cap hit
2020-21 to 2020-21 $5M
2019-20 to 2020-21 $5M
2014-15 to 2018-19 $4.1M
2012-13 to 2013-14 $3.5M
2010-11 to 2013-14 $3.5M

Every contract on record for him, newest first, with the team that signed him to it and the day it was signed. The one covering 2020-21 is marked. An extension is signed while the contract before it is still running, often a year ahead. A row with no team or date is a contract known only by its cap hit, most often one signed since October 2024.

2020-21 analytics

Rating

+1.7Goals above replacement323rd of 643 skaters, 102nd of 213 defencemen
+0.3Wins above replacementgoals above replacement divided by six
-0.7Goals above averagethe five parts below added up

Each number is coloured by where it ranks among the 213 ranked defencemen: green is in the top fifth and red the bottom fifth, with paler shades in between and amber for the middle. Hover over a tile for its percentile.

Even-strength offence-1.7 23rd percentileEven-strength defence+3.2 96th percentilePower play-0.1 53rd percentilePenalty kill-1.3 1st percentilePenalties-0.9 29th percentile

The goals he added to his team's goal difference, compared with a spare-part player given the same ice time. Each part is measured against the league, so zero is an average skater, and the rank beside it is among defencemen. A full season is about two-thirds the player and one-third chance. Before 2023-24 the NHL timed events less exactly, and differently from rink to rink, so expected goals for this season are rougher than for recent ones.

-505102010-112012-132014-152016-172018-192020-21Goals above replacementGoals above replacement, by season

On the ice

What happened at five-on-five while he was on the ice. What these numbers mean

49.0Corsi for %443 attempts for, 462 against
-0.5CF% relative to teamagainst the team without him
52.0Expected goals for %20.1 expected for, 18.6 against
+4.9xGF% relative to teamagainst the team without him
50.7Fenwick for %unblocked attempts
34.5Goals for %10 for, 19 against
95.6PDO4.2% shooting + 91.4% saves
65Attempts takenhis own shot attempts

Each share is coloured by where it ranks among the 579 skaters who played enough to be ranked: green is in the top fifth and red the bottom fifth, with paler shades in between and amber for the middle. Hover over a tile for its percentile. PDO and attempts taken are left plain, since neither is good or bad on its own.

Who he played with

Defence pairGPTimeCF%xGF%Goals
Niklas Hjalmarsson · Jordan Oesterle23226:5544.048.54-14
Niklas Hjalmarsson · Jason Demers21165:5254.254.44-4
Alex Goligoski · Niklas Hjalmarsson2996:4848.749.72-1
Niklas Hjalmarsson · Ilya Lyubushkin1530:3466.066.70-0

The pairs he spent the most time in at five-on-five, with the team's share of the shot attempts and expected goals, and the goals for and against, while they were out. The two shares are coloured as above, against the league's pairs that played a fair amount together. Hover over one for its percentile.

Chances and finishing

Expected goals adds up how likely each of his shots was to go in, judged by where it came from, what kind of shot it was and whether it was a rebound. All situations, leaving out shots at an empty net. Before 2023-24 the NHL timed events less exactly, and differently from rink to rink, so expected goals for this season are rougher than for recent ones.

0Goalsnot counting empty-netters
0.9Expected goalsfrom 47 unblocked attempts
-0.9Goals above expectedgoals minus expected goals
Chances created 0.08 expected goals per 60 minutes1st
Shot quality 1.9% chance per attempt6th
Finishing -0.9 goals above expected28thOne season of finishing is mostly luck.

Each bar shows the share of defencemen he is ahead of, among the 218 who played 300 minutes or more this season.

00.20.40.60.81Game 20Game 40Expected 0.9Goals 0

His goals and his expected goals as the season went on. When the goals line pulls away above, he is scoring more than his chances were worth; below, less.

Where he shot from

Every attempt he took this season, in all situations, attacking the net on the right. There is a dot for each attempt, bigger for a better chance. "Show as heat map" shades the ice by where the attempts came from. Click a goal for its details.

Game log

Date Opponent Result G A P +/- PIM Shots Hits TOI
May 5, 2021 vs LAK L 2-4 0 0 0 -3 0 0 0 13:40
May 3, 2021 vs LAK L 2-3 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 14:11
May 1, 2021 vs VGK L 2-3 (OT) 0 0 0 -1 0 0 0 19:57
Apr 30, 2021 vs VGK W 3-0 0 0 0 2 0 1 0 17:53
Apr 28, 2021 @ SJS L 2-4 0 1 1 1 0 2 0 17:40
Apr 26, 2021 @ SJS L 4-6 0 0 0 -2 2 0 0 14:27
Apr 24, 2021 @ LAK W 4-0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 18:02
Apr 21, 2021 vs MIN L 1-4 0 0 0 0 2 1 0 12:24
Apr 19, 2021 vs MIN L 2-5 0 0 0 0 0 2 1 16:29
Apr 17, 2021 vs STL W 3-2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 18:05
Apr 14, 2021 @ MIN L 2-5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 16:36
Apr 12, 2021 @ COL L 2-4 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 16:14
Mar 22, 2021 vs COL L 1-5 0 0 0 -1 0 0 1 12:33
Mar 20, 2021 @ ANA W 5-1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 19:02
Mar 18, 2021 @ ANA L 2-3 (OT) 0 0 0 -1 0 0 0 18:53
Mar 16, 2021 @ MIN L 0-3 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 14:47
Mar 12, 2021 @ MIN L 0-4 0 0 0 -2 0 0 0 18:33
Mar 10, 2021 @ COL L 1-2 (OT) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 18:39
Mar 8, 2021 @ COL W 3-2 0 0 0 0 2 2 0 17:40
Mar 6, 2021 vs MIN W 5-2 0 2 2 2 0 0 0 18:50
Mar 5, 2021 vs MIN L 1-5 0 1 1 -1 0 0 0 18:07
Mar 3, 2021 @ LAK W 3-2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 19:50
Feb 27, 2021 vs COL L 2-6 0 1 1 -1 0 2 1 20:37
Feb 26, 2021 vs COL L 2-3 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 19:38
Feb 24, 2021 vs ANA W 4-3 (SO) 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 15:46
Feb 22, 2021 vs ANA W 4-3 0 0 0 0 2 3 1 19:59
Feb 20, 2021 vs LAK L 2-4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 18:09
Feb 18, 2021 vs LAK L 2-3 (SO) 0 0 0 0 2 2 1 14:44
Feb 12, 2021 vs STL L 1-4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 05:22
Feb 8, 2021 @ STL W 4-3 (SO) 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 19:27
Feb 6, 2021 @ STL W 3-1 0 0 0 0 2 1 0 18:35
Feb 4, 2021 @ STL W 4-3 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 21:42
Feb 2, 2021 @ STL L 3-4 0 0 0 -1 0 0 1 18:02
Jan 28, 2021 vs ANA W 3-2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 17:34
Jan 26, 2021 vs ANA L 0-1 0 0 0 0 0 2 2 15:02
Jan 24, 2021 vs VGK L 0-1 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 20:43
Jan 22, 2021 vs VGK W 5-2 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 21:17
Jan 20, 2021 @ VGK L 2-5 0 0 0 -1 2 1 1 17:34
Jan 18, 2021 @ VGK L 2-4 0 0 0 -1 0 0 1 20:08
Jan 16, 2021 vs SJS W 5-3 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 17:52
Jan 14, 2021 vs SJS L 3-4 (SO) 0 0 0 0 2 1 1 17:04