Florida Panthers Prospects Update: NCAA and CHL
A look at how the Cats' college and junior prospects have done so far in their respective seasons.
The Florida Panthers official website released it's December edition of the "In the Pipeline" series on Tuesday, and although they highlighted junior player Josh Brown in their "Prospect Profile" series, they left out a fair number of other prospects. Todd does a good job of covering the San Antonio Rampage for us, so we're going to look at the Cats' prospects that are currently playing in either the NCAA or the CHL.
Courtesy of the team we have all the statistics on the players (can also be found in the PDF report)
(If the text is too small to read, the full PDF report has the stats in bigger print)
Players of Note
Not much is being made of Hyman''s performance this season, but he's got 17 points in 14 games for the University of Michigan. Michigan isn't a high-end collegiate team this year (8-6 at this point), so Hyman doesn't really have a lot of help when it comes to putting the puck in the net. Hyman has really flown under the radar so far as a prospect because his coach Red Berenson used him in a strictly defensive role his first three years for the Blue. Now, in his senior season, he's being given top-six minutes and is flourishing in that role.
Kyle Rau
Like Hyman, Rau is a senior who is flourishing in a leadership role on his college team. The two also have matching point totals (17 points in 14 games), though Rau's Minnesota Gophers are 9-4-1 this year. Kyle has the potential to be a third line center in the NHL, and his scoring pace so far this season should have the Florida brass excited about his future.
Playing for the Kingston Frontenacs in the Ontario Hockey League, Lammikko has put up solid offensive numbers so far in the season (19 points in 26 games). Where he's really stood out, however, is his two-way play. Not only is Lammikko's +19 rating (plus minus is flawed, but we don't have a better metric for junior players) the best on his team, his Relative Goals For percentage (courtesy of chlstats.com) is the best in the OHL out of players who have played at least 20 games. His team has done much better with him on the ice than with him off of it, and his stellar play has earned him a spot on the preliminary roster for Finland's World Junior Championship team.
The feisty winger/center has been having a great year with the Brandon Wheat Kings, putting up 36 points in 29 games and going plus-15 over that span. The Wheat Kings are currently 2nd in the WHL and Hawryluk's play has been a big factor in the team's success so far. As good as Hawryluk has been, the player taken immediatley after him was Ivan Barbashev. Barbashev has 44 points in 26 games for the Montcon Wildcats (QMJHL) so far this season.
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