Briefly checked out stats of both the Panthers WHL prospects taken in the 2022 draft: Alscher (rd3 #93) & Davies (rd6 #186). Both are having good statistical seasons. Alscher is more of a big stay at home crease clearing defenseman, so his points won't necessarily jump off the page at you.
Panthers didn't have high picks in the 2022 Draft, but so far so good. Other than their true six round pick, the goalie Muszelik who plays for the University of New Hampshire in NCAA, seems like everyone taken in that draft is off to a good start this year.
Jansson is the only prospect from the '22 draft class I have not been updated on this year. I don't do European prospects really.
Respectfully, and I love the reports you do on our prospects, but I wouldn't call Alscher's and Davies' seasons "statistically good" - so far, they have plenty of time to turn it around obviously.
Alscher is 5th on his team in points by defencemen; he is 66th among all WHL Dmen (54th if we remove the 20+ year old overagers). I did some research a few years back and essentially, if your D prospect isn't producing reasonably well even as a "defensive defenceman", then he's not going to make it - at best, he might become a fringe n.7/AHL call-up.
Looking at some guys who played in the WHL:
From 2010/11 (guys ca. 27-31 years old), there are currently 14 defencemen who played in the NHL this season.
Only 2 out of 14 produced at under 0.5 ppg in their Draft+1 season (or what should have been their Draft+1 season) and made it: Brenden Dillon and Joel Edmunson. I guess the bright side is that they're both big guys (6'4 and 6'5; Alscher is 6'3), but that's still not a lot.
From 2013/14 (to lessen the overlap of guys; guys ca. 24-28), there are currently 14 defencemen who played in the NHL this season. Again,
only 2/14 of them produced less than 0.5 .ppg in their draft+1 year: Hayden Fleury, who's a fringe NHL guy, and Noah Juulsen, who is barely even that. (They're 6'3 and 6'2, so again there's the size element in Alscher's advantage, but that's about it).
As for Davies and forwards, it's even bleaker. He is currently 108th in points among WHL forwards, 7th in points on his team. If I look back again a bit:
There are 19 guys from 2013/14 currently in the NHL; 17 played in the WHL after being drafted. Only five of them didn't produce at a .ppg pace in the WHL in their draft+1 year, and two of those five missed that .ppg cut-off by 1 and 3 points respectively. The remaining three are Beck Malenstyn (who??? exactly), our old friend Dryden Hunt, and Jujhar Khaira, the only of the three who has carved a somewhat stable position in the NHL; he's also 6'4.
I'm not going to go looking at other years, but the rough rule for the WHL is that you want at least a .ppg production in the Draft+1 year, or the NHL chances are very slim. Add that Davies is tiny (just 5'9) and it's not very promising right now (though he's played 13 games; he could get hot the rest of the season, finish at 100+ points and make this whole post moot).
