Prospects. Most of them will fail, but we all love them anyway. We really love comparing them to each other in a Hunger Games-style death match to see who can do what the best. In this case, we’re looking at NHLe (NHL equivalent scoring) to get a clearer picture of the top scoring prospects in the Stars system.
The translation factors described here by Gabe Desjardins are the ones I used for these projections. The only adjustment to those is that prospects under 23 in the AHL are bumped up to .53 instead of .44 to control for age. Younger players producing is more promising than older players producing after all.
Presented initially without comment are your 2014 Dallas Stars prospects:
| Last | First | Pos | League | Pts/G | NHLe |
| Shore | Devin | C | NCAA | 1.23 | 41.30 |
| Klingberg | John | D | SEL | 0.56 | 35.82 |
| Molin | Emil | C | SEL | 0.55 | 34.89 |
| Guptill | Alex | W | NCAA | 0.95 | 31.85 |
| McKenzie | Curtis | W | AHL | 0.87 | 31.27 |
| Ritchie | Brett | W | AHL | 0.71 | 30.68 |
| Dowling | Justin | W | AHL | 0.64 | 27.60 |
| Dickinson | Jason | C | OHL | 1.15 | 27.28 |
| Smith | Gemel | C | OHL | 1.09 | 25.85 |
| Elie | Remi | W | OHL | 1.07 | 25.34 |
| Ully | Cole | W | WHL | 1.04 | 24.81 |
| Troock | Branden | C | WHL | 1.00 | 23.78 |
| Ranford | Brendan | W | AHL | 0.51 | 22.06 |
| Glennie | Scott | W | AHL | 0.56 | 20.20 |
| Hansson | Niklas | D | SEL | 0.28 | 17.69 |
| Faksa | Radek | C | OHL | 0.72 | 17.22 |
| Paul | Nicholas | W | OHL | 0.69 | 16.33 |
| Stransky | Matej | W | AHL | 0.35 | 15.38 |
| Sinitsyn | Dmitry | D | WHL | 0.64 | 15.16 |
| Oleksiak | Jamie | D | AHL | 0.33 | 14.49 |
| Bystrom | Ludwig | D | SEL | 0.22 | 13.80 |
| Jokipakka | Jyrki | D | AHL | 0.31 | 13.42 |
| Nemeth | Patrik | D | AHL | 0.27 | 11.75 |
| Vance | Troy | D | QMJHL | 0.49 | 11.69 |
| Gaunce | Cameron | D | AHL | 0.28 | 9.99 |
| Peters | Taylor | C | AHL | 0.23 | 9.93 |
| Paulovic | Matej | W | USHL | 0.55 | 9.05 |
| Lindell | Esa | D | SMLIIGA | 0.11 | 5.03 |
| Makela | Aleksi | D | SMLIIGA | 0.00 | 0.00 |
Devin Shore is pretty good. Performing at a high level against older players in the NCAA is always an accomplishment. Shore and Alex Guptill both fit that criteria. Guptill is still getting his feet under him in the AHL, but should be an impact player for the Texas Stars next season. Shore, turning 20 in July, is on the doorstep of joining the professional ranks too.
The most surprising player on the list is probably Molin. It’s worth mentioning that he played in the second tier of the Swedish professional system, and even then only got into 21 games. I wouldn’t put a ton of stock in his placement on the list, but I left him there anyway.
The most underrated prospect in the system is likely John Klingberg. He produced at a very high level against grown men in Sweden. The Stars definitely have a need for a right shot offensive defenseman. He’s going to have to earn it like anyone else, but his offensive development during the 2014 season is a big bright spot in the Stars development pipeline.
You might also notice how deep the Stars prospect pool is at this point. They’re 14 deep with prospects over 20 points in NHLe. These guys are going to keep pushing their way up the chain as the Stars keep working towards putting a perennial Stanley Cup contender on the ice. What they did in 2014 is pretty encouraging.