pei fan said:
I'm glad you understand.
Crosby is the best 17 year old hockey player playing now.
Kessel is a 17 year old hockey player (less than 2 months age diff.).
Crosby is Kessel's benchmark.
Based on your "math" then Daigle is Crosby's benchmark (when Daigle was 17).
Daigle = 137 points
Crosby = 168 points
Crosby had 13% more points than "The Next Great One" did in the 'Q' so with Alexander's career high of 51 points in the NHL, based on how you are figuring things out Crosby will max out at 13% higher than that (58 points).
You are probably laughing now because of how stupid this post looks but it's simply proving that Crosby should not be the bench mark for ANYBODY right now in terms of professional hockey. Everybody is discussing Crosby and Kessel as PRO hockey players and their potential at the NHL level so using Crosby as Kessel's "bench mark" for future success can't be done.
As many have proven, junior success usually means squat once you reach the next level. Brad Richards had 186 points in his final QMJHL season while Alex Tanguay only had 61 and both were in the top-10 in scoring last year in the NHL (they tied for "9th" with 79).
Let's do a little "study"... QMJHL 1999-00 scoring leaders
1. Brad Richards (186)
2. Ramzi Abid (158)
3. Simon Gamache (143)
4. Benoit Dusablon (135)
5. Marc-Andre Thinel (132)
6. Jonathan Roy (125)
7. Carl Mallette (125)
8. Brandon Reid (124)
9. Dominic Forget (116)
10. Jerome Tremblay (116)
And now onto their 03-04 status (have to utilize the NHL)
1. Richards (64th overall in '98) - NHL (Tampa Bay) [Top-10 Scoring]
2. Abid (28th overall in '98; 85th overall in '00) - NHL (Pittsburgh) [16 games played, 5 points]
3. Gamache (290th overall in '00) - AHL (Milwaukee) [11 NHL GP, 2 points]
4. Dusablon (undrafted) - ECHL, AHL, NHL (NYR system) [3 NHL GP, 0 points]
5. Thinel (145th overall in '99) - ECHL & AHL (Columbus & Hamilton) [42 points in 47 games in ECHL]
6. Roy (undrafted) - 2nd German league [36 points in 40 games]
7. Mallette (107th overall in '00) - 2 ECHL teams (Florida & Roanoke) [71 points in 73 total games] {played for 4 different teams this year}
8. Reid (208th overall in '00) - AHL & NHL (Manitoba & Vancouver) [58 points in 73 GP in AHL & 3 GP and 0 points in Vancouver]
9. Forget (undrafted) - ECHL (Johnstown) [63 points in 72 games]
10. Tremblay (undrafted) - Quebec Senior league [33 points in 46 GP]
My
whole point is you can't use a junior player as a bench mark for another junior player WHEN you're trying to calculate pro potential. The reason for the above "study" is to prove if you used previous junior stats as a "bench mark" for a pro prospect, it'd be a rough go since only 1 of the 10 have turned into a regular NHLer.
Even then, Crosby isn't Kessel's junior bench mark because they aren't playing in the same league and their statistics will reflect that. What would Kessel's stats be like in the 'Q'? What would Crosby's be like against Kessel's competition? You can only speculate but if you're using Crosby as Kessel's bench mark you will be completely off in calculating Kessel's future because it's not a fair "bench mark" or "comparison" because when all is said and done, what they accomplished in junior means squat. For every Brad Richards there are 20 others guys with over 100 points (in the Q, OHL, WHL, or wherever) who will not make an impact at the NHL level thus proving accomplishments and stats in juniors are nice but they will NOT, I repeat NOT, determine ones NHL future.