How much of that 22 minutes was power play time? How many were PP points? ASP’s shot from the point on the power play has been effective against junior and SHL goalies…it’s really hard to score from distance in the NHL and I’m not sure ASP will be able to distribute the puck at a high enough level to earn PP1 minutes if his shot is not as effective at the next level.
Then he’s got to worry about playing solid enough defense as a 5’10 kid against NHLers to gain a coach’s trust to be counted on in a top 4 & PP1 quarterback role. He’s a good prospect, but I think he is being overrated a fair bit. I see quite a bit of risk with him.
A question; why are you trying to discount the fact that Pellikka plays PP? This is a massive strength of his game, not just something he gets handed. He's played both as a distributor (did it fantastically in the playoffs for example) and as a shooter. That's versatility - not a negative.
Like anything, it's questionable how much it will translate. He scored more goals than Peter Forsberg, Eriksson Ek, Kopitar, Dahlin, Kempe, Fiala, Zibanejad etc. did at that age.
Will he outscore all of them in the NHL? No. But you can't just shrug that off and say "it's harder in the NHL", because that goes for everything that every prospect does.
He also doesn't get sheltered at ES by any of his coaches at any level.
Here are some ES TOI/GP comparisons in the playoffs for 18 year old D lately:
Edvinsson - 19:42
Pellikka - 18:55
Dahlin - 17:18 (technically 17 year old season)
Brännström - 16:50
Bichsel - 15:55
Lundkvist - 15:20
Engström - 13:52
Salomonsson - 13:01
Pettersson - 2:10
Are we voting based on who is closest to the NHL right now or who we think will ultimately be a better player?
Whatever criteria you use should ideally be applied somewhat consistently. There is risk with ASP, but there's plenty of risk with Lindstein too. In The Athletic's rankings, ASP was 37th and Lindstein 94th. I can totally see someone being a bit lower on ASP and a bit higher on Lindstein, but I still think there's objectively a sizeable gap between the two.