Flames Prospects Updated NHL Equivalency

 

 

Now that the organization has added a few more kids to the mix, it’s time to take a look the Flames youngster’s NHLE, or NHL equivalencies based on their most recent season’s work. NHLE gives us an idea of how well a given skater’s output would translate to the NHL and allows us to compare players across disparate leagues.

There aren’t a lot of surprises here, except perhaps the Janko number. Of course, we can’t really be sure of that one because he played in such and obscure league, one for which isn’t an established translation factor.

This process shows just how out in front of the pack Sven Baertschi is – even the older guys like Max Reinhart and Michael Ferland weren’t all that close to him. Keep in mind the younger a guy is, the further he is from his production peak and the more likely he is to take a step forward in the near future. That is, of course, bad news for guys beyond their 21st birthday like Greg Nemisz or Nick Larson who are already well back of some of their younger peers.

The other guy that stands out is Gaudreau, given his age, the quality of the league he played in and the fact that most freshman aren’t handed big roles or minutes. If he can crest an NHLE of 40 in his sophomore season, the Flames know they really have something with him.

Of course, NHLE has some obvious blindspots: it doesn’t know who a guy was playing with and in what situations and it doesn’t necessarily adjust for changes in role or ice time. So if Sven makes the Flames this coming season but is relegated to a 4th line, 8-minute per night role, there’s obviously no chance he’ll be challenging for 50-points. Still, this gives us some idea of how each prospects performance stands relative to the NHL and one another.