Los Angeles Kings Trade Deadline Prospect Rankings Update
Just ahead of the big Marian Gaborik acquisition the Kings announced they traded prospects for defenseman Brayden McNabb and picks. What are the Kings giving up and what are they getting back in terms of NHLe?
What is NHLe?
Through the efforts of hockey analytics big-shots Gabe Desjardins & Rob Vollman (among others) we are able to approximate a prospect's NHL equivalent point totals. Each league has different equivalency numbers which you can adjust according to a players age. Obviously, NHLe has it's limitations, but it is a useful way to do a quick & dirty analysis. It is basically just a way to put all prospects spread out in various leagues on the same playing field so that you can compare them against one another. If you have any questions about the process, fire away in the comments.
- The Kings exchanged prospects Hudson Fasching and Nicolas Deslauriers to Buffalo for defensive prospect Brayden McNabb, minor league forward Jonathan Parker and two 2nd round picks. We left Fasching and Deslauriers on the chart to see how where where ranked at the time of the trade. The thing that immediately jumps out is how productive Brayden McNabb has been in terms of point production— especially considering he’s been billed as primarily a defensive defenseman. McNabb actually has a better NHLe than both Fasching and Deslauriers. He jumps up to the top in point production among LA’s defensive prospect corps. McNabb is mainly known for his defense and has already made a name for himself in the NHL for some big hits in limited action:
- San Diego Native Jonathan Parker hasn’t had a very productive AHL career but is putting up numbers at the ECHL. Still, him being in the ECHL at 22 doesn’t bode well for his future as an NHL player.
- Hudson Fasching got off to blazing start this year, but his point production has cooled a bit as the season wore on. Still he was a very pleasant surprise among Kings prospects this season, which boosted his value and allowed the Kings to acquire a really good prospect in McNabb.
- Nic Deslauriers has been surprisingly productive since being moved from defense to left wing. He has 18 goals in 60 games and looks like he may have a future as a solid bottom six forward in the NHL who could also fill-in at defense.
- The biggest riser for the Kings over the last month was Justin Auger. Auger 12 points (3 g, 9 a) over his last 15 games for the OHL’s Guelph Storm. Auger is 6’7" and was drafted in the 4th round last year.
Comments ()