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Photo of Antti Niemi

Antti Niemi

#37 · Goalie · Montréal Canadiens

Born Aug 29, 1983 in Vantaa, FIN · 6'2", 209 lb · Catches left

Trophy case

Stanley Cup NHL Champion 2009-10

Compare with a similar player

The goalies closest to him in games played in 2018-19. Pick one to see the two side by side, or choose someone else.

Calvin Pickard ARI · 17 GP, 0.875 Anthony Stolarz EDM · 18 GP, 0.901 Collin Delia CHI · 16 GP, 0.908 Chad Johnson ANA · 19 GP, 0.879 Garret Sparks TOR · 20 GP, 0.902

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.

02040602008-09: 3 games308-092009-10: 39 games3909-102010-11: 60 games6010-112011-12: 68 games6811-122012-13: 43 games4312-132013-14: 64 games6413-142014-15: 61 games6114-152015-16: 48 games4815-162016-17: 37 games3716-172017-18: 24 games2417-182018-19: 17 games1718-19

Games played by season. The darker bar is the season shown below.

Season Team GP Shots against Saves Goals against Save % Cap hit
2008-09 CHI 3 59 51 8 0.864
2009-10 CHI 39 936 854 82 0.912 $827K
2010-11 SJS 60 1741 1601 140 0.920 $2M
2011-12 SJS 68 1865 1706 159 0.915 $3.8M
2012-13 SJS 43 1220 1127 93 0.924 $3.8M
2013-14 SJS 64 1705 1556 149 0.913 $3.8M
2014-15 SJS 61 1811 1656 155 0.914 $3.8M
2015-16 DAL 48 1246 1128 118 0.905 $4.5M
2016-17 DAL 37 880 785 95 0.892 $4.5M
2017-18 PIT 3 79 63 16 0.797 $700K
2017-18 FLA 2 39 34 5 0.872
2017-18 MTL 19 592 550 42 0.929
2018-19 MTL 17 539 478 61 0.887 $950K
11 seasons Career 464 12712 11589 1123 0.912

Playoffs

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

Season Team GP Shots against Saves Goals against Save %
2009-10 CHI 22 645 587 58 0.910
2010-11 SJS 18 538 482 56 0.896
2011-12 SJS 5 151 138 13 0.914
2012-13 SJS 11 298 277 21 0.930
2013-14 SJS 6 164 145 19 0.884
2015-16 DAL 5 96 83 13 0.865
6 seasons Playoffs 67 1892 1712 180 0.905

2018-19 season totals

GP Shots against Saves Goals against Save % Goals against per game
17 539 478 61 0.887 3.59

Contract

$950KCap hitends in 2019, then UFA

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. He rated at or below a spare-part player, so there is no cost per goal to show.

The contract

Who signed him to it, and when, are not on record. It runs through 2018-19, so this is its last season, after which he is an unrestricted free agent.

Season Cap hit
2018-19 $950K

Each season left on the contract. Only its cap hit and its end are known: how the pay is split by season, and any signing bonus, are not.

Contracts he has signed

Signed Signed by Kind Seasons Years In all Cap hit
2018-19 to 2018-19 $950K
2017-18 to 2017-18 $700K
2015-16 to 2017-18 $4.5M
2011-12 to 2014-15 $3.8M
2010-11 to 2010-11 $2M
2009-10 to 2009-10 $827K

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 2018-19 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.

2018-19 analytics

Rating

-11.3Goals above replacementsix goals are worth about one win
-1.9Wins above replacementgoals above replacement divided by six
-15.9Goals above averagehis goals saved above expected

The goals he saved for his team, compared with a spare-part goalie facing the same shots. A goalie's season is about one-third the goalie and two-thirds chance, so read one year lightly. He has played fewer than 20 games, too few to be ranked. 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.

-20-1001020302010-112012-132014-152016-172018-19Goals above replacementGoals above replacement, by season

Shots faced

Expected goals adds up how likely each shot he faced was to go in, judged by where it came from, what kind of shot it was and whether it was a rebound. A goalie who lets in fewer than that has saved goals above expected. Only shots taken while he was in net count, and the league's goalies as a whole come out at zero. 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. What these numbers mean

-15.9Goals saved above expectedexpected goals minus goals against
45.1Expected goals againstfrom 718 unblocked attempts
61Goals againstwhile he was in net
0.887Save %0.916 expected from his shots
Goals saved -0.99 above expected per 60 minutes1st
Shot difficulty 6.3% chance per attempt faced20thA higher bar means his team gives up more dangerous shots.

Each bar shows the share of goalies he is ahead of, among the 60 who played at least a quarter as much as the busiest this season.

0204060Game 10Allowed 61Expected 45.1

The goals he was expected to let in and the goals he did, as the season went on. When the allowed line runs below the expected line, he is saving more than his shots were worth.

Where he was shot at

Every unblocked attempt he faced this season, with his net on the right. Darker red means more attempts from that spot, and each dot is a goal. "Show every shot" switches to a dot for each attempt, bigger for a better chance. Click a goal for its details.

Game log

Date Opponent Result Shots against Saves Goals against Save % TOI
Mar 7, 2019 @ SJS L 2-5 24 20 4 0.833 57:47
Feb 17, 2019 @ FLA L 3-6 9 6 3 0.667 13:57
Feb 2, 2019 vs NJD L 2-3 (OT) 27 24 3 0.889 61:56
Jan 19, 2019 vs PHI L 2-5 23 19 4 0.826 58:01
Jan 15, 2019 vs FLA W 5-1 53 52 1 0.981 59:34
Jan 8, 2019 @ DET W 3-2 32 30 2 0.938 60:00
Dec 31, 2018 @ DAL W 3-2 (OT) 47 45 2 0.957 60:14
Dec 29, 2018 @ TBL L 5-6 32 26 6 0.813 59:07
Dec 28, 2018 @ FLA W 5-3 26 23 3 0.885 59:59
Dec 11, 2018 @ MIN L 1-7 23 16 7 0.696 46:10
Nov 23, 2018 @ BUF L 2-3 (OT) 40 37 3 0.925 63:06
Nov 13, 2018 @ EDM L 2-6 43 37 6 0.860 60:00
Nov 10, 2018 vs VGK W 5-4 38 34 4 0.895 60:00
Nov 5, 2018 @ NYI W 4-3 (SO) 24 21 3 0.875 64:51
Oct 25, 2018 @ BUF L 3-4 42 38 4 0.905 59:06
Oct 15, 2018 vs DET W 7-3 28 25 3 0.893 60:00
Oct 13, 2018 vs PIT W 4-3 (SO) 28 25 3 0.893 65:00