Antero Niitymaki was born June 18, 1980 in Turku, Finland. The sixth round, 168th overall selection of the Philadelphia Flyers in the 1998 NHL Entry Draft, Niitymaki honed his skills in the Finnish League before making his North American debut in 2002-03.
Rookie of the Year in the Finnish League in 99-2000, Niittymaki helped TPS Turku capture the 2000 league title and represented his homeland at the 1999 World Junior Championships. During his first professional season in North America in 2002-03, Niittymaki posted a 14-21-2 record and a 2.58 GAA with the AHLs Philadelphia Phantoms.
In 2003-04, the Turku, Finland native made his NHL debut with the Flyers, seeing action in three games while spending the majority of the season in the AHL with the Phantoms.
The summer of 2009 saw the Finnish goalkeeper become an unrestricted free agent for the first time in his career and when the Flyers signed the always controversial Ray Emery, it was clear that Niittymaki was going to have to ply his trade elsewhere. On July 10 he signed with the Tampa Bay Lightning.
The following summer he was again an unrestricted free agent, this time inking a two-year deal with the San Jose Sharks.
