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Rabidsponge21 · 06-20-2020, 09:11 AM

RSS Team Prospect rankings Update

For those of you who might have missed the last entry or had issues with TPE totals not updated well do I have a treat for you, the next update in what I hope to be a re occurring series.

So what is this exactly? Well I will try to be breaking down what I think is the total strength of each teams current prospect pool and how strong it is. I will be expanding the Tiers this time to 6 (from 4) to give a more robust ranking as well as making a few small tweaks to make the rankings hopefully more clear.

The main changes.

1) 6 Tiers now instead of 4. - The higher the Tier the better - So for S52 if you are 745 TPE or higher you are Tier 6 - 353-428 you are tier 1
2) Highest TPE listed on teams roster pages minus the lowest TPE for that draft class to create a range of separation for the tiers.
Ex: S52 class the highest TPE player is 824 currently - Lowest is 471 still on teams prospect pages. So the difference divided by 6 = 79 TPE per Tier.
3) Tier's are assigned point values to create a worth.
Tier 6 = 11 Points
Tier 5 = 9 Points
Tier 4 = 7 Points
Tier 3 = 5 Points
Tier 2 = 3 Points
Tier 1 = 1 Point
4) If a player holds onto a top 3 spot for their draft class for TPE they gain +1 Point to their standing (making those 3 players worth 12 points).
5) I added a measurement column I like to call "SHL ready" which any player currently around the 550 TPE mark I consider to be SHL ready. I know many teams and players like to bring in players later if possible but not everyone can be a Buffalo or New England for team depth.

[Image: unknown.png]

With all of this in mind lets have a look how many teams break down.

The one thing I found immediately was that the S51 only had like 4-5 players left I believe on many teams pages as we saw a mass call up happen this off season, so when we revisit this next season I think S52 will have much of a same effect as the S55 class is added to the list.
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Buffalo Stampede
Raw Prospect Ranking: 2
Rabidsponge Ranking: 2
Buffalo has continued it's really great draft's by having no player below Tier 3 for them. A smaller draft pool overall, it doesn't really matter when all of your picks look to be of high quality. Mix that with a nice split of those picks across the last 2 drafts and you have yourself a nice flow of players to help an already strong team. Windsor was a good late pick up after the draft but has shown signs of great activity and then great absences. Mix in the higher activity of Roach as well but still only a Tier 3 active has them a few steps behind the other prospects Harrington - Seppala and Bergman. Buffalo could have easily been first in most seasons I feel but with the current #1's pool size and large number of SHL ready players it's hard for any team to compete.

Tampa Bay Barracuda
Raw Prospect Ranking: 11
Rabidsponge Ranking: 15
For a team that has become a literal joke to the league and record books you think Tampa would have more top tier prospects to field for this. I mean they do have 7 prospects who are Tier 5 and above, but for a team as bad as they are you would figure the pool would be a bit more Tier 6 all around. When discussing this, people keep linking me their next 3 seasons of picks but the reality is that the draft can be a crap shoot and not always something bristling with success. Add in the fact the team looks to potentially not win a SINGLE GAME this season and the immediate help waiting in the wings looks thin. With too many holes to fill and not enough high end picks to fill them I have Tampa lower than their actual raw ranking for the fact that they are still 2 seasons away from being 2 seasons away. I can't stress enough how utterly silly it is a team choose to tank this bad. The GM group that was there should be ashamed for fielding such a joke of a team. I can't imagine too many prospects are excited to accept a -60+ rating to start their first 2-3 seasons of their careers for "The Future".

[Image: newwolfpack.png]

New England Wolfpack
Raw Prospect Ranking: 7
Rabidsponge Ranking: 5

A team which is already boasting a very strong roster has a prospect pool that carries quite a bit of value overall. Just sitting above the middle of the pack for RAW rankings they jump a bit for my personal rankings for the simple fact the team is already strong to begin with and that having a set of prospects that will only continue that is something that every team strives for. Yxskaft and Eller both are in the Top 3 of their respective classes, Sawful from this recent draft adds another Tier 6 player and creates a nice rotation of incoming talent. The only really miss by the team recently has been with a Tier 2 pick in Hellquist from S53, but as an almost 400 TPE player could still be used by some teams as a 4th line inset if needed. The other good news? Their 4 prospects who are Tier 5 and above are a nice mix of positions (RW - D x 2 - G) leaving them with some good strength to draw from for line up replacements.

[Image: Hamilton.png]

Hamilton Steelhawks
Raw Prospect Ranking: 14
Rabidsponge Ranking: 16

For a team that has won a few times recently having a strong prospect system isn't really a must since Hamilton keeps topping the East. The problem? They are performing above their team total TPE levels, why is this an issue? Well long term I think despite some ideal builds and coaching it can only prop them up for so long. They will need to start replacing some of their aging core and their current crop is a little underwhelming. Having no Tier 6 prospects hurts and with zero SHL ready players it becomes even more concerning. The most recent draft drew out a Tier 5 prospect in Takshak and S53 contained 2 Tier 5;'s with Jobin and hammaburg, but still not enough to replace the holes that could be springing soon. Hamilton needs to really nail the next draft or two to get this moving a little better I feel or they will be a mid tier team TPE wise and really need to pray they can keep the trend of expert coaching to keep them afloat/ relevant.

Chicago Syndicate
Raw Prospect Ranking: 3
Rabidsponge Ranking: 3

Chicago for me just comes across of one of those more 'quiet' teams, maybe it's just a lack of overall site interaction for myself but I was honestly surprised and impressed how well they have drafted these last 2 drafts. Now Chicago only has 1 SHL ready player in Minamino (but they are Tier 6) but they really rebuild their system with a nice chunk of high quality picks from the S54 class with 3 Tier 6 Picks (Keahi - Scott - Vitecek) and a Tier 5 (Jean Uthread RT). Mind you those players are still at least 1+ season away but it is looking bright for them. The only issue I see? They are VERY forward heavy with their prospects with only 1 Defenseman to speak of in Atake who is still in the Tier 3 area leaving them in a 2+ season window for making an impact.

[Image: Toronto.png]

Toronto North Stars
Raw Prospect Ranking: 15
Rabidsponge Ranking: 13
I knew many people were probably waiting to see where the Stars fall into this all and I was interested myself to see as well. Now the one thing I will say with Toronto is that they are truly held back by the extra players they still have on their page that I am sure are waiting to be cut which would bump their ranking considerably. With a total of 5 Tier 1 prospects pulling them down it makes their system seem worse than it truly is. Toronto actually can show off their 6 Tier 6 players + 2 Tier 5 players which many teams can't (as a lot of teams have 6 or less prospects in comparison). So Toronto does have some top quality resources growing. Why did I only bump them 2 spots then for my own ranking? Well a lot of it has to do with their current position in the league. Having all these prospects are great and with 5 SHL ready prospects waiting it would seem they are do in for a good boost. The only issue? Well a bunch of 563-803 TPE players aren't going to push this team into the top 8 teams this time next season. Will it make them progressively better? 100%, but I can't call this a top system until I see a good chunk of these players playing big league minutes and growing as Toronto's system continues to improve. The good news for them? Even after potentially calling 5+ players up they have 3 strong players from the S54 draft to keep them going as they add some more high end picks this off season.

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Baltimore Platoon
Raw Prospect Ranking: 6
Rabidsponge Ranking: 10
This is the first team on my list I have shown where there is a pretty big drop between RAW value vs My own ranking. Now there is a method to my madness. I personally like to take the team composition as it stands + Future assets + SHL ready assets + Position in standings to sort of think of the value of a teams prospect pool. With the Platoon they have some really good prospects with Duncan (Tier 6) - Kalashnikov (Tier 5) - Shepard (Tier 5) which helps their rating be as high as it is. The problem? Well you have a team that when I constructed this article was sitting in 13th in the league with the idea of the playoffs a distant wish. Mix in the fact the Platoon dealt away all their picks it seems to go all in on the S54 draft class/ Trades which yeilded them with a Tier 5 - Tier 4 and Tier 2 it's doesn't seem like a strong return on investment. The Platoon currently only have 4 players over the 1200 mark with many of their players being mid tier earners (shown by the GM Ross S46 at 1422 TPE and his close counterparts McCloud - 1132 S46 - Mikulak 1078 S45 - Klaus 1246 S45) the team will be leaning on their youth to prop the team up. But even that is a mixed bag with some great prospects (Del Vecchio - Tage - Krashwagon) mixed with some mid tier ones for earning rates (Lundavist Jr. - Trevino - Wilson). The platoon have too many holes to fill and not enough value coming up and a lack of assets to help that sadly.

Calgary Dragons
Raw Prospect Ranking: 12
Rabidsponge Ranking: 11

Calgary doesn't move very far for me as they are a team that is challenging for a playoff berth but lack some depth in their system. With only 5 prospects currently and only 2 of them being upper tier has me worried about their ability to turn the team into the constant skill machine they have always been. A solid draft of two could change this quickly but with only Barkov and Amundsen as their top prospects and a trade up for Marner (Tier 4) the dragons are looking to be in a bit of trouble when it comes to prospects. With so little to pull from and 2 Lower end prospects brining them down (Nets - Siren) its hard to be overly excited about Calgary system.

San Franciso Pride
Raw Prospect Ranking: 4
Rabidsponge Ranking: 6

So this was a hard for me to really come up with a definitive ranking for. The RAW position speaks for itself in that the Pride have a really decent set of prospects, the issue? They only have 4 currently. I had already laid this all out so I will let it stand as I have rated it, but on a second look I think I should have personally dropped them a bit as the team is really a bubble team for fighting for playoffs and they only have 4 total prospects with 2 of them propping up their rating. Now the pride have no lower than a Tier 3 prosect (Drunkebird) and close to half of their players are SHL ready, but if they call up both, well then they literally only have 2 prospects left heading into S55's draft. So the pride seem to get good value with their picks? But their system is on the verge of fading out of exsistence period. I think next season we will see a shift on this ranking for sure, unless they kill the draft.

Manhattan Rage
Raw Prospect Ranking: 8
Rabidsponge Ranking: 7
The Rage having traded almost all their S54 picks still were able to squeeze out a pick which they got incredible value for in grabbing a goalie who is sitting just outside the Tier 6's of his class in Redacted. Minus really the bust of Ohira they have really done well with their prospects even with a limited pool of 5 total. The rage are not only in the hunt for the playoffs and potential home ice advantage they have some SHL ready prospects in their smaller pool. Literally a perfect set up for a team wanting to stay relevant, the Rage have some prospects ready to make the jump if needed and are already growing some strong options after those players graduate. The main qualm I have is due to the lack of S54 picks their pool will be drying up quickly unless they make some moves to draft on some more players during the next 2 drafts.

New Orleans Spectres
Raw Prospect Ranking: 5
Rabidsponge Ranking: 4
A quality vs quantity situation, the Spectres have made the most of their limited selections. The reason they rank so high is simply because of the performance in the standings mixed with some strong prospects has them looking to continue this trend. Dream is due to be called up next season with maybe even Kasius as well which will cause them to step back a bit baring a good S55 draft. Lazer looks to be a decent pick up for them, he is no MAS but he will do for the 3rd pairing defenseman they will most likely develop into. The spectres were able to lean on 3 big prospects to rank so high, so it will be interesting to see if/ when their prospect numbers grown if they are able to keep this level of success going.

[Image: LosAngeles.png]

Los Angeles Panthers
Raw Prospect Ranking: 10
Rabidsponge Ranking: 8
Los Angeles is another team looking back I think I should have maybe ranked a bit lower than the top 8 honestly, as they really only have 4 prospects total. Now they are in the top 50% with a Tier 6 and Tier 4 x 2 but still with a team that was at the time competing in the middle of a pack of teams for a playoff sport, only having 1 SHL ready player to add to their roster to potentially improve it and 2 others that are easily 2 seasons out still, has me looking at it maybe not being as high as I expected. Regardless their system still has yet to to yield a Tier 1 (though if Lee isn't active and not cut might change that soon enough) and has their higher quality options they aren't doing bad realistically. S55/ S56 they will need to make some picks though if they want to rebuild their system though because soon enough it will be non existent.

[Image: Edmonton.png]

Edmonton Blizzard
Raw Prospect Ranking: 13
Rabidsponge Ranking: 12
Edmotnon is a mixed bag really. The team at the time of constructing this was currently sitting 4th overall in the league, which is good yes, but their prospect pool is something of highs and lows. The Blizzard currently have 2 Tier 6 picks with Hartmann and LaForest, but then after they have a wave of Tier 3's and below. Hillier seems to maybe not have panned out like they hoped and Brown - Sutton - McMahon so far are showing they might be mid tier earners. Now those aren't busts in my eyes, just players that will take longer to make some impacts on the teams roster. With only 1 SHL level player the Blizzard will have to wait 1-3 seasons before all their current prospects can make the show perhaps, and this might just be a cause of the teams more recent successes. S55 and S56 they won't need to nail every pick as the team I feel has some luxuries to take their time. Obviously not being a bottom feeder makes it harder to make higher quality attempts in the draft, so their strength of pool is understandable.

[Image: Texas.png]

Texas Renegades
Raw Prospect Ranking: 1
Rabidsponge Ranking: 1
Oh boy. Favourtism much eh Rabid? I mean really folks the numbers don't lie. Texas is literally the ONLY team in the league that doesn't CURRENTLY have a player in the bottom 3 tiers for their prospects list (Buffalo comes close). So that alone is going to slam dunk your way to the #1 spot for this list. With a total of 5 Tier 6 prospects. 2 Tier 5, and 3 Tier 4 the Renegades future is looking blindingly bright. Mix in the fact the team has 6 SHL ready players? Is currently challenging for a playoff berth? And has very few key regressing players? Yeah the Renegades are set up to be potentially good for a VERY long time. Their timing for roster spots is almost perfect over the next 2-3 seasons and will be growing more than regressing as well. Will all these picks pan out perfectly? Maybe not, a lot can happen from 155 TPE to 1200+ but currently it's looking like a slam dunk for the renegades.

[Image: unknown.png]

Minnesota Chiefs
Raw Prospect Ranking: 16
Rabidsponge Ranking: 14
Minnesota much like Tampa and Toronto have a huge prospect pool to choose from. So a bigger pool means more opportunities for potential failures. Minnesota does only have 2 current Tier 1 players and both are from S51/S52 so I would figure they would be purged sooner than later, and would much like toronto help to bump their rating overall. The main issue I see right now is that the team has a lot of Tier 3/4's overall and a severe lack of Tier 5's at all. Yes they have Labovitch - Berni and Klompus to flex their Tier 6 muscles but short of those 3 the team seems to be sporting a large chunk of mid tier earners so far. Add in the fact Labovitch is almost 100% getting called up next season and the rating only gets worse. With so many S54 players its hard to really tell how the team will do long term as those picks are still in a super volitile state for growth, so this could change very easily/quickly.

[Image: Winnipeg.png]

Winnipeg Jets
Raw Prospect Ranking: 9
Rabidsponge Ranking: 9

Winnipeg is a bit of an enigma to me honestly. The teams TPE levels say they should be performing a bit better than they do? But maybe its just a too much in so little areas sort of situation than it being spread out more? Regardless the team has some big pieces to help on the way with 3 Tier 6 prospects which should help them push forward next season towards a playoff dream than just draft lotto. The biggest future issue with the Jets is that if they call up these 3 players they become the worst prospect pool in the SHL instantly with only 2 players left which both are Tier 1/2 prospects. Winnipeg will need to make some picks here soon the next 2 seasons or their idea of prospects won't exsist anymore.

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Ready to grade - 3400ish words

***Wally*** · 06-20-2020, 09:17 AM

You and your sexy analysis.

***_Blitz_*** · 06-20-2020, 09:27 AM

If I'm reading this right, I'm a Tier 5, not a Tier 6, by TPE. It looks like the cutoff for S52 is 744, and I'm not quite there.

Fascinating breakdown, though!

Grapehead · 06-20-2020, 09:39 AM

Great piece, and I'd say an accurate assessment of the prospect situation developing in SFP. We've got some extra picks in the next two drafts to restock the cupboards though, so if we do our homework then we'll be in great shape.

ml002 · 06-20-2020, 09:48 AM

Credit to Copenhagen, Wasty, FlappyGiraffe, InciteHysteria, and caltroit_red_flames
[Image: MM4nqx6.png]

trella · 06-20-2020, 09:48 AM

rude

Thanks to @karey and @JSS for the sigs!

Former USA Fed Head, Carolina Kraken Co-GM, Tampa Bay Barracuda GM

***honkerrs*** · 06-20-2020, 09:48 AM

"Having all these prospects are great and with 5 SHL ready prospects waiting it would seem they are do in for a good boost. The only issue? Well a bunch of 563-803 TPE players aren't going to push this team into the top 8 teams this time next season. Will it make them progressively better? 100%, but I can't call this a top system until I see a good chunk of these players playing big league minutes and growing as Toronto's system continues to improve. The good news for them? Even after potentially calling 5+ players up they have 3 strong players from the S54 draft to keep them going as they add some more high end picks this off season."

i thought this was about prospects and not the future ranking of the teams?

appreciate the effort but this isn't like the real NHL, there's no point in the SHL in trying to rank the entire prospect pool. the numerous IA players that are included in these rankings just completely throw off the prospect pool rankings for who actually matters when they get to the SHL.

like you having chicago as 3rd best prospect pool when they have 4 "green" players from only 2 draft classes where Tor is 13th and has 6 (+1 person 2 TPE away, and another 13 TPE away) "green" tier players across 3 draft classes ......................

let me guess how this piece ends...tex as best prospect pool lmao

Rabidsponge21 · 06-20-2020, 09:53 AM

06-20-2020, 09:48 AMhonkerrs Wrote: "Having all these prospects are great and with 5 SHL ready prospects waiting it would seem they are do in for a good boost. The only issue? Well a bunch of 563-803 TPE players aren't going to push this team into the top 8 teams this time next season. Will it make them progressively better? 100%, but I can't call this a top system until I see a good chunk of these players playing big league minutes and growing as Toronto's system continues to improve. The good news for them? Even after potentially calling 5+ players up they have 3 strong players from the S54 draft to keep them going as they add some more high end picks this off season."

i thought this was about prospects and not the future ranking of the teams?

appreciate the effort but this isn't like the real NHL, there's no point in the SHL in trying to rank the entire prospect pool. the numerous IA players that are included in these rankings just completely throw off the prospect pool rankings for who actually matters when they get to the SHL.

like you having chicago as 3rd best prospect pool when they have 4 "green" players from only 2 draft classes where Tor is 13th and has 6 (+1 person 2 TPE away, and another 13 TPE away) "green" tier players across 3 draft classes ......................

let me guess how this piece ends...tex as best prospect pool lmao

I knew many people were probably waiting to see where the Stars fall into this all and I was interested myself to see as well. Now the one thing I will say with Toronto is that they are truly held back by the extra players they still have on their page that I am sure are waiting to be cut which would bump their ranking considerably.

Ignoring the 1st part :Thumbsup:

***honkerrs*** · 06-20-2020, 09:57 AM

06-20-2020, 09:53 AMRabidsponge21 Wrote:
06-20-2020, 09:48 AMhonkerrs Wrote: "Having all these prospects are great and with 5 SHL ready prospects waiting it would seem they are do in for a good boost. The only issue? Well a bunch of 563-803 TPE players aren't going to push this team into the top 8 teams this time next season. Will it make them progressively better? 100%, but I can't call this a top system until I see a good chunk of these players playing big league minutes and growing as Toronto's system continues to improve. The good news for them? Even after potentially calling 5+ players up they have 3 strong players from the S54 draft to keep them going as they add some more high end picks this off season."

i thought this was about prospects and not the future ranking of the teams?

appreciate the effort but this isn't like the real NHL, there's no point in the SHL in trying to rank the entire prospect pool. the numerous IA players that are included in these rankings just completely throw off the prospect pool rankings for who actually matters when they get to the SHL.

like you having chicago as 3rd best prospect pool when they have 4 "green" players from only 2 draft classes where Tor is 13th and has 6 (+1 person 2 TPE away, and another 13 TPE away) "green" tier players across 3 draft classes ......................

let me guess how this piece ends...tex as best prospect pool lmao

I knew many people were probably waiting to see where the Stars fall into this all and I was interested myself to see as well. Now the one thing I will say with Toronto is that they are truly held back by the extra players they still have on their page that I am sure are waiting to be cut which would bump their ranking considerably.

Ignoring the 1st part :Thumbsup:

double :Thumbsup: on you ignoring my point. this isn't a prospect pool ranking list. it is rabid's opinion piece on the future outlook of teams using arbitrary analysis

Rabidsponge21 · 06-20-2020, 10:07 AM

06-20-2020, 09:57 AMhonkerrs Wrote:
06-20-2020, 09:53 AMRabidsponge21 Wrote: I knew many people were probably waiting to see where the Stars fall into this all and I was interested myself to see as well. Now the one thing I will say with Toronto is that they are truly held back by the extra players they still have on their page that I am sure are waiting to be cut which would bump their ranking considerably.

Ignoring the 1st part :Thumbsup:
double :Thumbsup: on you ignoring my point. this isn't a prospect pool ranking list. it is rabid's opinion piece on the future outlook of teams using arbitrary analysis

Torontos RAW ranking is 100% held back by the IA dead weight. But that doesn't change the fact they still have those prospects are part of their system and they clearly bombed those picks. Remove them and teams RAW ranking would probably jump to 7.5+ or more.

My personal ranking is just that, a personal ranking. A team who not only is winning and has some decent prospects is a better system in my opinion than ones that have a bunch of Tier 6 but are still 2+ years from showing anything for it.

Like real hockey I'd rank a team who can win president trophys more often and churn out NHL players at a slower pace but more consistently than one who has a bunch of 'exciting' what if's.

***honkerrs*** · 06-20-2020, 10:14 AM

06-20-2020, 10:07 AMRabidsponge21 Wrote: Like real hockey I'd rank a team who can win president trophys more often and churn out NHL players at a slower pace but more consistently than one who has a bunch of 'exciting' what if's.

triple :thumbsup: great prospect pool piece

***Acsolap*** · 06-20-2020, 10:32 AM

Quote:Yeah the Renegades are set up to be potentially good for a VERY long time. Their timing for roster spots is almost perfect over the next 2-3 seasons and will be growing more than regressing as well. Will all these picks pan out perfectly? Maybe not, a lot can happen from 155 TPE to 1200+ but currently it's looking like a slam dunk for the renegades.

Feel like I've been hearing this about Texas for 14 seasons.

Credit to Ml002, King, Wasty, Carpy, Bruins10, Rum_Ham, Turd Ferguson, Ragnar and Enigmatic for the sigs.
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Jearim · 06-20-2020, 10:38 AM

@Acsolap it may have taken a bit but 14 seasons and we are finally here. Lol

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***WannabeFinn*** · 06-20-2020, 12:02 PM

06-20-2020, 10:32 AMAcsolap Wrote:
Quote:Yeah the Renegades are set up to be potentially good for a VERY long time. Their timing for roster spots is almost perfect over the next 2-3 seasons and will be growing more than regressing as well. Will all these picks pan out perfectly? Maybe not, a lot can happen from 155 TPE to 1200+ but currently it's looking like a slam dunk for the renegades.

Feel like I've been hearing this about Texas for 14 seasons.

Random dudes on the street been talking about Texas since before you joined the site that’s crazy man the hype is unreal.....

Mayuu · 06-20-2020, 12:05 PM

Texas stronk.

RETIRED

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