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Using NHLE to evaluate the Panthers’ prospect pool

The Panthers‘ plan since day one of the Tallon administration was to build from the draft, so evaluating how subsequent prospects might perform in the NHL is essential. The NHL League Equivalencies variable, or NHLE, was developed by Gabriel Desjardins of Behind the Net, and is done by taking a prospect’s goals, assists, or points per game and multiplying them by the league equivalency, then by 82 (a full season in the NHL). The NHLE isn’t flawless, as you’ll see, as it doesn’t project as well for defensemen as it does for forwards.

It also doesn’t take into account ice time, age, and luck (it happens), so don’t take the numbers completely to heart. After the jump find out how well your favorite prospect might have done in the NHL last season.

Forward Age League GP G A PTS NHLE G NHLE A NHLE PTS
Jonathan Huberdeau 19 QMJHL 37 30 42 72 18.6 26.1 44.7
Drew Shore 21 NCAA 42 22 31 53 17.6 24.8 42.4
Kyle Rau 20 NCAA 40 18 25 43 15.1 21.0 36.1
Nick Bjugstad 20 NCAA 40 25 17 42 21.0 14.3 35.3
Corban Knight 22 NCAA 39 16 24 40 13.8 20.7 34.5
Vincent Trocheck 19 OHL 65 29 56 85 11.0 21.2 32.2
Quinton Howden 20 WHL 52 30 35 65 14.2 16.6 30.8
John McFarland 20 OHL 49 24 26 50 12.0 13.1 25.1
Wade Megan 22 NCAA 39 20 9 29 17.2 7.8 25.0
David Pacan 21 OHL 67 29 35 64 10.6 12.9 23.5
Josh Birkholz 21 WHL 70 29 28 57 10.2 9.8 20.0
Steven Hodges 18 WHL 72 21 25 46 7.2 8.5 15.7
Logan Shaw 20 QMJHL 60 20 21 41 7.7 8.0 15.7
Joe Basaraba 20 NCAA 40 7 9 16 5.9 7.6 13.4
Francis Beauvillier 19 QMJHL 67 23 11 34 7.9 3.8 11.7
Iiro Pakarinen 21 SM-Liiga 54 10 3 13 8.2 2.5 10.7
Zach Hyman 20 NCAA 41 2 7 9 1.6 5.7 7.4

Notes

  • Anthony Luciani, Jonathan Hazen, and Garrett Wilson were not included in the list because of the small sample size of their time in the AHL and because there’s yet no league equivalency for the ECHL.
  • Mattias Lindstrom spent last season in HockeyAllsvenskan, the second highest level in Sweden.
  • Rocco Grimaldi played only four games last season due to injury.
  • Yaroslav Kosov and Connor Brickley didn’t play 30 games in their respective leagues, so I decided not to include them.

Defense Age League GP G A PTS NHLE G NHLE A NHLE PTS
Colby Robak 22 AHL 73 9 30 39 4.4 14.8 19.3
Alexander Petrovic 20 WHL 68 12 36 48 4.3 13.0 17.4
Michael Matheson 18 USHL 53 11 16 27 4.6 6.7 11.3
Benjamin Gallacher 20 USHL 24 1 11 12 0.9 10.1 11.0
John Lee 23 NCAA 43 3 11 14 2.3 8.6 10.9
Rasmus Bengtsson 19 USHL 34 3 8 11 2.0 5.2 7.2
Edward Wittchow 20 USHL 60 5 13 18 1.8 4.8 6.6
R.J. Boyd 21 USHL 50 1 13 14 0.4 5.7 6.2
Jonathan Racine 19 QMJHL 61 3 10 13 1.1 3.8 4.9

Huge stick-tap to The Neutral over at Fear the Fin for the idea and assistance.