The Stanley Cap | Nikolas Matinpalo Salary/Contract Information, News, Statistics, Analytics and more

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Nikolas Matinpalo

Position	Right Defense	Current Team	Ottawa Senators
Shoots	Right	Current Contract	2 years
Height	6'3"	Expires	2026-27
Weight (lbs)	213	Expiry Age (Jun 30)	28
Age	27 (Oct 5, 1998)	Expiry Status	UFA
Drafted	Undrafted

Date	Team	Transaction
May 5, 2025	Ottawa Senators	Signed 2 years @ $875K AAV starting in 2025-26
Jan 6, 2025	Ottawa Senators	Recalled from AHL
Jan 3, 2025	Ottawa Senators	Assigned to AHL
Dec 28, 2024	Ottawa Senators	Recalled from AHL
Dec 11, 2024	Ottawa Senators	Assigned to AHL
Dec 10, 2024	Ottawa Senators	Recalled from AHL
Dec 8, 2024	Ottawa Senators	Assigned to AHL
Dec 3, 2024	Ottawa Senators	Recalled from AHL
Jun 20, 2024	Ottawa Senators	Signed 1 year @ $775K AAV starting in 2024-25
May 25, 2023	Ottawa Senators	Signed 1 year @ $885K AAV starting in 2023-24

Status History Coming Soon

5v5 Individual Stats

Season	Team(s)	GP	TOI	G/60	A/60	Pts/60	xG/60	GAE/60	Sh%	xSh%	Sh%AE	%SA Rush	%SA Reb.
2023-24	OTT	4	24:29	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.11	-0.11	0.00	2.19	-2.19	0.00	0.00
2024-25	OTT	41	500:52	0.12	0.36	0.48	0.22	-0.10	2.38	4.28	-1.90	1.64	3.28
2025-26	OTT	2	27:13	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.03	-0.03	0.00	1.57	-1.57	0.00	0.00

5v5 On Ice Stats

Season	Team(s)	GP	TOI	SAF/60	GF/60	xGF/60	SAA/60	GA/60	xGA/60	GF%	xGF%	xGF Rel	xGA Rel	xGF% Rel
2023-24	OTT	4	24:29	53.91	4.90	2.69	36.76	2.45	2.11	66.67	56.10	0.58	-1.49	19.13
2024-25	OTT	41	500:52	37.02	1.92	2.15	42.41	2.16	2.48	47.06	46.51	-0.21	0.17	-4.08
2025-26	OTT	2	27:13	33.07	0.00	1.93	28.66	2.20	1.60	0.00	54.64	-0.61	-0.19	-3.93

NHL Edge Stats

		Skating				Shooting					Zone Time
Season	GP	Top Speed	Bursts>20/mi	Avg. Speed	ES Avg. Speed	Top Speed	Avg. Speed	%Long Range	%Mid Range	%High Danger	ES DZ%	ES NZ%	ES OZ%
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Legend

Percentile 0-25

Percentile 25-50

Percentile 50-75

Percentile 75-100

Forwards are compared with forwards and Defensemen are are compared with Defensemen.

5v5 Defense Pairs

Season

Season	Teammate	Team	TOI	GF/60	GA/60	GF%	xGF/60	xGA/60	xGF%	xGF Rel	xGA Rel	xGF% Rel
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Glossary

Type	Statistic	Definition
Individual	G/60	Goals Against per 60 minutes.
Individual	A/60	Assists per 60 minutes.
Individual	Pts/60	Points per 60 minutes.
Individual	xG/60	Expected Goals per 60 minutes.
Individual	GAE/60	Goals Above Expected (G/60 - xG/60).
Individual	Sh%	Shooting Percentage.
Individual	xSh%	Expected Shooting Percentage.
Individual	Sh%AE	Shooting percentage above expected (Sh% - xSh%).
Individual	%SA Rush	Percentage of shot attempts determined to be on the rush.
Individual	%SA Reb.	Percentage of shot attempts determined to be from rebounds.
On Ice	SAF/60	Shot Attempts For per 60 minutes.
On Ice	GF/60	Goals For per 60 minutes.
On Ice	xGF/60	Expected Goals For per 60 minutes.
On Ice	SAA/60	Shot Attempts Against per 60 minutes (lower is better).
On Ice	GA/60	Goals Against per 60 minutes (lower is better).
On Ice	xGA/60	Expected Goals Against per 60 minutes (lower is better).
On Ice	GF%	Goals For Percentage = Goals For / (Goals For + Goals Against)
On Ice	xGF%	Expected Goals For Percentage = Expected Goals For / (Expected Goals For + Expected Goals Against)
On Ice	xGF Rel	xGF/60 when On Ice - xGF/60 when not On Ice.
On Ice	xGA Rel	xGA/60 when On Ice - xGA/60 when not On Ice (lower is better).
On Ice	xGF% Rel	xGF% when On Ice - xGF% when not On Ice.

Individual and On-Ice stats from Puckalytics.com (starting in 2015-16). NHL Edge Stats from edge.nhl.com (starting in 2021-22). Edge statistic definitions can be found at the Edge Stats Glossary.

News and Opinions

6-Foot-9 Forward Makes NHL Debut As Senators Begin New Season In Tampa at Yahoo Sports NHL (Thu Oct 9, 2025)
Final Cuts: Projecting What The Senators Opening Night Roster Will Look Like at Yahoo Sports NHL (Sun Oct 5, 2025)
Sens Embarrassed by Blues 7-1 at Silver Seven Sens (Fri Oct 3, 2025)
The Overlooked Gem: Why Nikolas Matinpalo's Rise Shouldn't Be Forgotten Amid Jordan Spence's Arrival at Silver Seven Sens (Sat Sep 27, 2025)
Preview: Senators And Leafs Square Off Tuesday In Another Preseason Battle Of Ontario at Yahoo Sports NHL (Tue Sep 23, 2025)
Is this the biggest question for Senators with preseason in four days? at SenShot (Wed Sep 17, 2025)
Ottawa Senators 2025-26 Prospect Pyramid at The Hockey Writers (Fri Sep 12, 2025)
Why Senators not re-signing Travis Hamonic benefits Nikolas Matinpalo big at SenShot (Wed Sep 10, 2025)
Ottawa Senators: Ranking The Six Best At Each Position at Yahoo Sports NHL (Sat Aug 30, 2025)
Expectations for Senators’ Nikolas Matinpalo in 2025-26 at The Hockey Writers (Tue Aug 26, 2025)

Current Contract

Standard Contract (RFA) ( ) (0 ratings)

Season	Age*	Cap Hit	AAV	Perf. Bonus	Sign. Bonus	Salary	Compensation	Minors Salary	Status
2025-26	26	$875,000	$875,000	-	-	$825,000	$825,000	$825,000	RFA-arb
2026-27	27	$875,000	$875,000	-	-	$925,000	$925,000	$925,000	UFA
Total				-	-	$1,750,000	$1,750,000	$1,750,000

Signed: May 5, 2025

Team: Ottawa Senators

GM: Steve Staios

Exp. Status: UFA

Cap %: 0.92

Previous Contracts (show) (hide)

Standard Contract (RFA) ( ) (0 ratings)

Season	Age*	Clause	Cap Hit	AAV	Perf. Bonus	Sign. Bonus	Salary	Compensation	Minors Salary	Status
2024-25	25		$775,000	$775,000	-	-	$775,000	$775,000	$200,000	RFA-arb
Total					-	-	$775,000	$775,000	$200,000

Signed: June 20, 2024

Team: Ottawa Senators

GM: Steve Staios

Exp. Status: RFA-arb

Cap %: 0.88

Standard Contract (UFA) ( ) (0 ratings)

Season	Age*	Clause	Cap Hit	AAV	Perf. Bonus	Sign. Bonus	Salary	Compensation	Minors Salary	Status
2023-24	24		$885,000	$885,000	-	$85,000	$800,000	$885,000	$80,000	RFA
Total					-	$85,000	$800,000	$885,000	$80,000

Signed: May 25, 2023

Team: Ottawa Senators

GM: Pierre Dorion

Exp. Status: RFA-arb

Cap %: 1.06

Career Statistics

			Regular Season									Playoffs
Season	League	Team	GP	G	A	Pts	+/-	PIM	Shots	Sh%	TOI/G	GP	G	A	Pts	+/-	PIM	Shots	Sh%	TOI/G
2013-14	U16 SM-sarja	Kiekko-Espoo U16	25	0	4	4		12				6	2		2		4
2014-15	U18 SM-sarja	Kiekko-Espoo U18 Akatemia	25	1	2	3		16
2015-16	U18 SM-sarja	Kiekko-Espoo U18 Akatemia	47	9	11	20		75
2016-17	U20 Mestis	Kiekko-Espoo U20 Ch	5	0	1	1		8
2016-17	U20 SM-sarja	Kiekko-Espoo U20	33	1	6	7	+16	37				2		1	1	+1
2017-18	U20 Mestis	Kiekko-Espoo U20 Ch	1	1	1	2		2
2017-18	U20 SM-sarja	Kiekko-Espoo U20	52	7	14	21	+17	59				4				-1	2
2018-19	Mestis	KOOVEE	2	0	0	0	-5
2018-19	Liiga	Ilves	30	2	4	6	+7	10				7				-1	4
2019-20	Liiga	Ilves	33	0	1	1	-1	47
2019-20	Mestis	KOOVEE	13	1	2	3	+1	10
2019-20	Suomen Cup	KOOVEE	3	0	0	0
2020-21	Liiga	Ässät	30	1	2	3	-2	18
2020-21	Liiga	Ilves	11	0	0	0	+2	6
2020-21	Mestis	KOOVEE	1	0	1	1
2021-22	Liiga	Ässät	50	4	4	8	-4	20
2022-23	WC	Finland	8	1	2	3	+5
2022-23	EHT	Finland	5	1	0	1	+1	2
2022-23	Liiga	Ässät	51	7	9	16	+2	20				8		4	4	-2	4
2023-24	NHL	Ottawa Senators	4	0	0	0	+1		2	0.0	7:00
2023-24	AHL	Belleville Senators	67	4	10	14	+15	26				7				+1	4
2024-25	AHL	Belleville Senators	24	2	6	8	-4	10
2024-25	WC	Finland	8	1	1	2	+3	4
2024-25	4 Nations	Finland	3	0	0	0	-5	2	3	0.0	39:31
2024-25	NHL	Ottawa Senators	41	1	3	4	-2	20	43	2.3	12:37	6				+1	2	3	0.0	13:04
2025-26	NHL	Ottawa Senators	2	0	0	0	-1		1	0.0	15:10
NHL Career			47	1	3	4	-2	20	46	2.2	12:14	6				+1	2	3	0.0	13:04