A guide to reading NHL prospect rankings

Just some thoughts that come to mind as we all work on killing time before actual hockey happens.

Earlier this month I wrote about how August is high time for prospect rankings.

Whether team based or league wide, it’s the ideal time to think about the future and dream about the future.

I also, you may recall, wasn’t really high on doing them myself.

This is two-fold.

For starters, I think prospect rankings in general become more mass aggregation than actual reporting. This sounds snobbish, because it is, but many prospect rankings reflect others and it can easily become an echo chamber of writers all saying the same thing.

There are some leaders in the echo chamber, and they are worth reading, but overall unless a writer is covering a team closely AND committed to the day-to-day of prospect coverage, they are likely relying on someone else’s rating to build their ranking.

I have also become an old curmudgeon about prospects.

I love the American Hockey League. I even wrote a book about the Texas Stars with my friend Stephen Meserve, but having covered it closely, including teams that won or nearly won the Calder Cup, I learned firsthand how few prospects actually make it.