Welcome to the inaugural Deep Sea Blue Chips, a ranking of the top Seattle Kraken prospects according to public scouting services and prospect analysts.
As mentioned on Episode 252 of the Sound Of Hockey Podcast, I compiled seven public sources providing rankings of the best prospects in the Kraken system and built an overall composite ranking. The sources I used are:
- Steven Ellis, Daily Faceoff (link)
- Corey Pronman, The Athletic (link)
- Scott Wheeler, The Athletic (link)
- McKeen’s Hockey (link)
- Elite Prospects (link)
- NHL.com (link)
Similar to my process in building the Sound of Hockey Big Board, an NHL Draft prospect ranking, I built this list using a weighted geometric mean calculation. Why did I use a geometric mean? Read up here. Weights were assigned based on our assessment of the depth of experience, sourced reporting, or scouting insight factored into the component lists themselves.
How do the Deep Sea Blue Chips compare with the data-only list I made earlier in the offseason? Where does it depart from the views of Kraken fans polled via social media? Let’s start with the Blue Chips list and then I’ll take a look at those other questions.
Deep Sea Blue Chips
You can view the full list in Google Sheets HERE. The sheet includes each player’s composite rank and a lot more data about each player.
Important note on using the Deep Sea Blue Chips Google Sheet: To filter the data by various categories, highlight row 2, then select “Data,” “Filter Views,” and “Create New Temporary Filter View.” This will allow you to manipulate the data in a way visible only to you.
The fans weigh in
Is there anyone you think is underrated or overrated in our inaugural Deep Sea Blue Chips? Without divulging the list, I asked a few Sound Of Hockey community members on various social media platforms to make their own ranking of top Seattle Kraken prospects. I fashioned their answers into a composite list too. Here is what our (highly unscientific) sample of 12 Kraken fans came up with:
The fans are much higher than the scouts on forwards Jacob Melanson and Kole Lind, as well as Tye Kartye and Ty Nelson, but lower on 2023 defenseman draft picks Lukas Dragicevic and Caden Price, among others. Who do you think has it right?
The spreadsheets would like a word
A couple weeks ago I published a “data-only” ranking of every NHL-affiliated skater prospect. As detailed in that piece, I built the ranking based on Thibaud Chatel’s NHLe work. I didn’t rank goalies, but the Kraken skaters checked in as follows:
The data suggests David Goyette and Logan Morrison might be underrated by the scouts and the fans. On the other hand, draft year NHLe calculations raise some questions about the future potential of players like Eduard Sale, Oscar Fisker Molgaard, and Carson Rehkopf, for example. Do you think the scouting-based Deep Sea Blue Chips rank is better? Or do you favor the approach emphasizing scoring data?
Next Up: Discussing the year ahead
Your Sound Of Hockey prospect contributors discuss the Deep Sea Blue Chips ranking, the prospects we’ll be watching this season, and a few bold predictions. Any topics or players you’d like us to cover? Drop us a note on Twitter or in the comments below.
Curtis Isacke
Curtis is a Sound Of Hockey contributor and member of the Kraken press corps. Curtis is an attorney by day, and he has read the NHL collective bargaining agreement and bylaws so you don’t have to. He can be found analyzing the Kraken, NHL Draft, and other hockey topics on Twitter and Threads @deepseahockey.