Sabres Prospect Tropp Leads NHL-E

The month of March has come and gone and the hockey season is winding down. The Sabres and Pirates are getting ready to make a long run in the playoffs and some prospects continue to play while others have to wait until next season. This will be our second to last look at the prospects NHL-E for the season.

NHLE is basically a way to estimate how a prospect would do if they were playing in the NHL based on their statistics in the league they are currently playing in. A full explanation on how it works can be found here.

How difficult is it to score a goal in the National Hockey League (NHL) relative to another league?  With half of NHL players coming from the minor leagues, a quarter from European Elite Leagues, 20% coming directly from Canadian Major Junior and 10% from the NCAA, that’s a question NHL teams try to answer every day.  In evaluating these players, it is critical to know how a player’s performance translates to theNHL.

 

One way to evaluate the difficulty of one league relative to another is examine the relative performance of players who have played in both leagues.  Players rarely play significant time in two leagues in the same year, but they often play in one league in one year and in another the next.  As long as a player’s skill level is approximately constant over this two year period, the ratio of his performance in each league can be used to estimate the relative difficulty of the two leagues.

There isn't one prospect that is setting the world on fire but there are a couple that we hope to see in a Sabres uniform very soon. From a statistical standpoint it is Corey Tropp (Michigan State) that continues to lead Sabres prospects. I haven't had an opportunity to see Tropp play this year so I can't give you my opinion on his potential.

I have had an opportunity to see Luke Adam play at the World Juniors near Christmas time and I came away impressed. He was a key part of the Canadian squad that took silver despite being projected as a fourth liner before the tournament.

There are some young defenseman that we should look forward to as well. Nick Crawford and Brayden McNabb immediately come to mind but I am interested to see if Marc-Andre Gragnani is ready to make the jump to the NHL more than anyone else. I still think the future is bright in Buffalo and the players above will be a key part in it.

I will have the official Die by the Blade prospect rankings up in a couple of days and you will be surprised with some of my rankings.