spikelechien
Registered User
Summer of 2018 - NHL Prospect Pools – Team and Prospect Rankings
I decided to do my own NHL team prospect pool rankings this summer using the criterion of “Rookie Status per The Hockey News” as the identifier as to who qualified as a prospect. I also decided to quantify my rankings mathematically using the following point basis:
8 – Superstars
8 – 1st Liners (Includes the Superstars)
5 – 2nd Liners
3 – Difference Makers Not Included Above
As you can see, the points are heavily weighted to the high-end prospects. This is because these are the prospects who make the biggest difference to a team’s success. I thought about adding extra pints for prospects who are likely to become NHL regulars but didn’t for two reasons:
1. Non-difference makers can be attained relatively easily by trade or free agent routes.
2. Too much extra work and time without significantly changing the rankings.
The difference between teams is not that great so I will summarize them in tiers.
1. Tier 1 = >35 points – Detroit, Vancouver – All have at least 6 prospects with points.
2. Tier 2 = 26 to 34 inc. – Vancouver, Carolina, NY Islanders, Buffalo, Philadelphia, NY Rangers, Ottawa – All have at least 5 prospects with points.
3. Tier 3 = 18 to 25 inc. – Colorado, Montreal, St. Louis, Vegas – All have at least 4 prospects with points.
4. Tier 4 = 11 to 17 inc. – Columbus, Florida, Los Angeles, Dallas, Toronto, Arizona, Chicago, Nashville, Anaheim, Calgary, Winnipeg – All have 3 prospects with points except for Nashville with 2.
5. Tier 5 = 3 to 10 inc. – Edmonton, Washington, New Jersey, Tampa Bay, San Jose – All have at least 1 prospect with points.
6. Tier 6 = No Points – Minnesota, Pittsburg
After all that work, I realize that I made a huge mistake. What I wanted to do was to identify who will be the elite teams in the future. I now realize that I needed to include the younger NHL players (probably those 25 and under) in the pools to correctly determine this – maybe next year. I strongly suspect that Buffalo would top the rankings giving the 25 and under criterion.
While you may disagree with the points allocation or individual prospect rankings, I believe the rankings give a decent comparison of NHL teams prospect pools. For those of you who would like the entire spreadsheet with stats and personal data as well as links to eliteprospects, just message me and I will forward it to you. Thanks for reading.
I decided to do my own NHL team prospect pool rankings this summer using the criterion of “Rookie Status per The Hockey News” as the identifier as to who qualified as a prospect. I also decided to quantify my rankings mathematically using the following point basis:
8 – Superstars
8 – 1st Liners (Includes the Superstars)
5 – 2nd Liners
3 – Difference Makers Not Included Above
As you can see, the points are heavily weighted to the high-end prospects. This is because these are the prospects who make the biggest difference to a team’s success. I thought about adding extra pints for prospects who are likely to become NHL regulars but didn’t for two reasons:
1. Non-difference makers can be attained relatively easily by trade or free agent routes.
2. Too much extra work and time without significantly changing the rankings.
The difference between teams is not that great so I will summarize them in tiers.
1. Tier 1 = >35 points – Detroit, Vancouver – All have at least 6 prospects with points.
2. Tier 2 = 26 to 34 inc. – Vancouver, Carolina, NY Islanders, Buffalo, Philadelphia, NY Rangers, Ottawa – All have at least 5 prospects with points.
3. Tier 3 = 18 to 25 inc. – Colorado, Montreal, St. Louis, Vegas – All have at least 4 prospects with points.
4. Tier 4 = 11 to 17 inc. – Columbus, Florida, Los Angeles, Dallas, Toronto, Arizona, Chicago, Nashville, Anaheim, Calgary, Winnipeg – All have 3 prospects with points except for Nashville with 2.
5. Tier 5 = 3 to 10 inc. – Edmonton, Washington, New Jersey, Tampa Bay, San Jose – All have at least 1 prospect with points.
6. Tier 6 = No Points – Minnesota, Pittsburg
After all that work, I realize that I made a huge mistake. What I wanted to do was to identify who will be the elite teams in the future. I now realize that I needed to include the younger NHL players (probably those 25 and under) in the pools to correctly determine this – maybe next year. I strongly suspect that Buffalo would top the rankings giving the 25 and under criterion.
While you may disagree with the points allocation or individual prospect rankings, I believe the rankings give a decent comparison of NHL teams prospect pools. For those of you who would like the entire spreadsheet with stats and personal data as well as links to eliteprospects, just message me and I will forward it to you. Thanks for reading.
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They don't see these prospects and go by word of mouth and basement scouting information they can dig up with a google search or on twitter....
