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Dallas Stars Prospects: How Have The Dallas Stars Prospects Performed So Far This Season?

As the NHL enters its All Star Break it is a time for reflection not only on the Dallas Stars season but also how the organisation has faired overall. The Dallas Stars have cultivated, even with high profiled trades in recent years, a good prospect pool that probably ranks in the top half of the NHL.

This can be seen through the arrival, albeit in short stints in some circumstances, of rookies at the NHL level. John Klingberg, Curtis McKenzie, Brett Ritchie and Jyrki Jokipakka have all played multiple games and have, mostly, performed well in their stints in Dallas.

How about the rest of the Dallas Stars prospect pool? How are those prospects outside of the cusp of making the NHL doing. Who is having notable seasons, whether for good or bad reasons, and who are meeting or not meeting expectations.

Below are the tables that have been used for the weekly prospect update. These give the raw numbers for each player in their respective league.

North American Junior Leagues and European Leagues

Team GP Goals Assists Points PIMs +/-
North American Juniors/NCAA
OHL
Jason Dickinson (LW/C) Guelph Storm 34 15 23 38 18 0
Remi Elie (LW) Belleville Bulls 35 14 20 34 24 4
Remi Elie (LW) Erie Otters 5 4 6 10 2 2
Aaron Haydon (D) Niagara IceDogs 43 7 11 18 63 3
Alex Peters (D) Plymouth Whalers 8 0 4 4 14 2
Patrick Sanvido (D) Windsor Spitfires 42 0 7 7 41 -18
WHL
Brett Pollock (LW/C) Edmonton Oil Kings 44 19 21 40 52 18
Cole Ully (LW) Kamloops Blazers 44 21 39 60 21 17
NCAA
Michael Prapavessis (D) Rensselaer Poly Institute (RPI) 22 0 4 4 4 2
Devin Shore (C) University of Maine 24 6 12 18 10 -10
USHL
Matej Paulovic (RW) Muskegon Lumberjacks 27 9 19 28 65 12
Sweden
SHL
Ludwig Bystrom (D) Farjestad 25 1 4 5 14 3
John Nyberg (D) Frolunda 6 0 0 0 2 -1
Allsvenskan
Niklas Hansson (D) Rogle 39 2 18 20 10 8
Emil Molin (W/C) Rogle 40 0 6 6 2 -3
Ludwig Bystrom (D) Timra 3 0 0 0 4 3
John Nyberg (D) Oskarshamn 7 0 1 1 2 3
John Nyberg (D) Mora 4 0 0 0 0 0
Sweden Juniors
John Nyberg (D) Frolunda J20 17 5 6 11 18 -10
Finland
Liiga
Esa Lindell (D) Assat 37 8 14 22 20 6
Aleksi Makela (D) Ilves 24 0 6 6 18 0
Mestis
Aleksi Makela (D) LeKi 7 0 0 0 0 -2
Finland Juniors
Miro Karjalainen (D) HIFK J20 7 0 1 1 4 -4
Russia
KHL
Dmitry Sinitsyn (D) Dynamo Moscow 8 0 1 1 4 3
VHL
Dmitry Sinitsyn (D) Dynamo Balashikha 20 2 7 9 6 4
MHL
Dmitry Sinitsyn (D) HK MVD Jr 2 0 1 1 4 1

Team GP Record Mins GA Svs GAA SVS% SO
OHL
Brent Moran (G) Niagara IceDogs 26 9-15-0 1458 84 716 3.46 0.895 1
QMJHL
Philippe Desrosiers (G) Rimouski Oceanic 29 18-9-0 1594 69 612 2.60 0.899 2

North American Professional Leagues:

Team GP G A P PIMs +/-
Radek Faksa (C) Texas Stars 32 4 6 10 12 -13
Scott Glennie (C) Texas Stars 39 4 15 19 22 -6
Jyrki Jokipakka (D) Texas Stars 15 3 1 4 4 -1
Ludwig Karlsson (LW) Idaho Steelheads 30 5 6 11 14 -2
Ludwig Karlsson (LW) Texas Stars 2 0 0 0 0 0
John Klingberg (D) X Texas Stars 10 4 8 12 6 5
Curtis McKenzie (RW) X Texas Stars 16 4 9 13 16 -2
Patrik Nemeth (D) X Texas Stars
Jamie Oleksiak (D) Texas Stars 4 0 3 3 2 1
Taylor Peters (C) Texas Stars 26 0 3 3 5 -6
Brendan Ranford (LW) Texas Stars 39 9 19 28 10 -2
Brett Ritchie (RW) X Texas Stars 22 11 7 18 32 10
Gemel Smith (C) Texas Stars 32 5 7 12 16 2
Matej Stransky (RW) Texas Stars 38 3 5 8 44 -5
Branden Troock (RW) Texas Stars 20 1 3 4 13 1
Branden Troock (RW) Idaho Steelheads 5 1 1 2 2 1
Justin Dowling (C) Texas Stars 29 10 11 21 14 -5
Cameron Gaunce (D) Texas Stars 38 1 3 4 39 -3
Troy Vance (D) Idaho Steelheads 28 2 6 8 11 3
Julius Honka (D) Texas Stars 34 2 7 9 24 -10

Team GP Record Mins GA Svs GAA SVS% SO
Jack Campbell Texas Stars 18 3-9-0 940 51 434 3.25 0.895
Henri Kiviaho Idaho Steelheads 11 4-4-1 561 0.899
Maxime Lagace Texas Stars 1 0-0-0 16 1 9 3.55 0.900
Maxime Lagace Missouri Mavericks 13 5-5-3 767 1 292 2.82 0.892 1

X indicates that a player is currently with the Dallas Stars

Its main flaw is that it doesn’t take into account the various difficulties of each league. The Liiga and the SHL are tougher leagues than the Canadian Major Juniors. The raw numbers don’t help compare players from different leagues. For that a formula known as NHLe (NHL Equivalency) is needed.

This is calculated relatively simply and as follows:

[(Total Points รท Games Played) x 82] x League NHLe Value = NHLe

Each league has been given an NHLe Value depending upon the difficulty of the league. These values are below:

League NHLe
KHL 0.83
SHL 0.78
Liiga 0.54
AHL 0.44
NCAA 0.41
OHL 0.30
WHL 0.30
QMJHL 0.28
USHL 0.27

Not every league has a figure calculated for the NHLe. The Allsvenska in Sweden doesn’t have a figure calculated which means that there aren’t figures for Niklas Hansson or Emil Molin. Sample size is also an issue, the larger the sample size the more accurate it is likely to be. However it can still be useful to compare players from different leagues.

The numbers below are accurate as of the morning of Thursday 22nd January.

European and Junior Prospects

Name Position League GP P NHLe
Cole Ully LW WHL 44 60 33.5
Remi Elie LW OHL 39 44 27.7
Jason Dickinson C OHL 34 38 27.4
Esa Lindell D Liiga 37 22 26.3
Devin Shore C NCAA 24 18 25.2
Matej Paulovic RW USHL 27 28 22.9
Brett Pollock C WHL 44 40 22.3
Ludwig Bystrom D SHL 25 5 12.7
Alex Peters D OHL 8 4 12.3
Aaron Haydon D OHL 39 18 11.3
Aleksi Makela D Liiga 24 6 11.0
Dmitry Sinitsyn D KHL 8 1 8.5
Michael Prapavessis D NCAA 20 4 6.7
Patrick Sanvido D OHL 42 7 4.1

AHL

Name Position League GP P NHLe
Travis Morin C AHL 30 31 37.2
Curtis McKenzie LW AHL 17 14 29.7
Brett Ritchie RW AHL 22 18 29.5
Brendan Ranford LW AHL 40 28 25.2
Justin Dowling C AHL 30 21 25.2
Scott Glennie C AHL 40 21 18.9
Gemel Smith C AHL 33 12 13.1
Radek Faksa C AHL 32 10 11.2
Julius Honka D AHL 35 10 10.3
Jyrki Jokipakka D AHL 15 4 9.6
Branden Troock RW AHL 20 4 7.2
Matej Stransky RW AHL 39 5 4.6
Cameron Gaunce D AHL 39 5 4.6
Taylor Peters C AHL 27 3 4.0

The numbers that strike out the most are Cole Ully’s and Esa Lindell’s. Cole Ully has really put on a clinic in the WHL this season, his numbers are very promising for a prospect who will be joining the Texas Stars at the end of this season or for the beginning of the next.

Esa Lindell’s season in the Liiga is put into perspective using the NHLe formula, being the top defenseman out of the Dallas Stars prospects and those signed to contracts in Texas. He’s solidly in the top ten overall. It’ll be very interesting to see how he handles the AHL and how close the organisation believes he is to the NHL.

Would remaining in the Liiga help his development better than heading to the AHL or is the most important thing to see how he handles the smaller ice surface in North America?

Despite his inconsistent playing time in the SHL, Ludwig Bystrom doesn’t appear too badly when his season totals are looked at using NHLe. With more ice time, and more consistent ice time, in Sweden he could be further up those tables. It hasn’t been a great situation for him but hopefully when he joins the Texas Stars he’ll get the ice time he needs to develop further.

Devin Shore’s slow start hasn’t punished him too much and he remains one of the top forward prospects the Dallas Stars have. It’ll be interesting to see how he adjusts to the AHL and whether he continues to be a talented playmaker at the level. More talented team mates should see him scoring and assisting more next year.

Brett Pollock’s numbers in his post draft year are about where I’d expect them to be. He’ll likely move up this list in his final year in the WHL next season when he should dominate. He’s been playing the top line for the Oil Kings and leads them in points this season.

Looking at the numbers from the AHL there are definitely players who are not performing as it would be hoped. Matej Stransky, after tearing apart the WHL, has had a forgettable season in the AHL so far with only five points through 39 games. Radek Faksa and Taylor Peters have low numbers too but have mostly been used in defensive situations. Still, those numbers are less than impressive.

The goaltenders in the entire organisation, from Dallas all the way down to the juniors, appear to have had troubling starts to their seasons. Jack Campbell, Henri Kiviaho and Maxime Lagace have all been backups in their respective teams and have not really had good numbers so far.

Philippe Desrosiers’ numbers, even adjusting for the QMJHL, aren’t as good as it would be hoped. He has improved in recent weeks so it is possible that his numbers will end up at a good level for his last year in the QMJHL. Brent Moran was stuck for a long time trying to bail out a Niagara IceDogs team that kept landing him in trouble. He’s still inconsistent but that isn’t unusual for a young goalie.

Overall, its been a mixed season for many of the Dallas Stars prospects. The top prospects in the Juniors, Europe and the NCAA are performing well, though not at the level it was hoped at the beginning of the season. There is still time for them to improve and this topic will surely be returned to at the ends of their regular and post seasons in a few months time.

Talking Points