Sami Niku’s first call-up to the Winnipeg Jets should have been his last. Same with his second. And his third.



As an AHL rookie three seasons ago, Niku won the Eddie Shore Trophy for the league’s best defenceman. He recorded points at will. He scored in his NHL debut. The Jets had another dynamic blueliner on the horizon; Sami Niku was it.



But after an unproductive 30-game NHL stint last season, it became clear Niku wasn’t ready for the NHL just yet. Take a look at HockeyViz.com’s chart below. The red shows more shots than the league average, the blue shows fewer. As the chart suggests, Niku was blown up defensively in the NHL, bleeding shots around the goal in particular. And there was no offence to make up for it, with Niku’s offensive impact sitting nine percent below league average.



Chart via Micah Blake McCurdy, HockeyViz.com



That Niku has struggled to figure out of the offensive component in his young NHL career is...