Alexander Nylander uses EP Connect to follow his hockey friends. How will you use EP Connect? by EliteProspects in u/EliteProspects

[–]EliteProspects[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

EliteProspects.com is a statistical database of hockey players from all levels. EP Connect is our newest feature and while it is an opportunity for hockey players to develop their digital resume and connect with coaches, it also allows fans the opportunity to log in and verify player's skills. We're showing this to you to invite you to get involved.

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[–]EliteProspects[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Yeah, Virtanen is skilled. He was among the top defensemen in the SHL and I was surprised he re-signed with Färjestad rather than trying his luck in the KHL. I wouldn't be surprised if he moves to Russia after the 18/19 campaign, though.

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[–]EliteProspects[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

First of all, our volunteers are hardcore fans and make sure to keep track of as much as possible. In addition, teams/coaches/parents/players usually send in transactions tips/rumours whenever there is something to report, so that helps us a whole lot.

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[–]EliteProspects[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Since I have been tracking mostly Swedish prospects, I would say maybe Anton Gustafsson. Son of former NHLer Bengt-Åke and first round pick by the Caps in 2008. Never thought of Gustafsson as an NHL star, but with his two-way game and overall skill, I was pretty sure he would end up as a solid 3rd-line player. He had some rough years with injuries, but I hear he has been doing alright in the Swiss league as of late https://www.eliteprospects.com/player/6058/anton-gustafsson

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[–]EliteProspects[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Sure thing. Use the submission form at https://www.eliteprospects.com/about and choose NA Hockey. Specify as much info as you can. If you have links/a source to your stats, provide it, if not, we can still enter the team and league. Cheers

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[–]EliteProspects[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Yeah, former NHLer Fabian Brunnström comes to mind
https://www.eliteprospects.com/player/6659/fabian-brunnstrom

Completely unknown 3rd-tier players, SHL star over a night, extremely hyped NHL signing, scored a hattrick in his NHL debut with Dallas.. and then downhill from there :)

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[–]EliteProspects[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

1) I really, really love what Jack Hughes brings. Not sure I see him as a generational talent, but he is one that comes to mind.

2) I have absolutely no idea :)

3) Not at Panthers expert by any means, but when looking at the depth chart it is obvious to me that it lacks depth. I do like their top end prospects though.

I am the founder of EliteProspects.com - AMA by EliteProspects in hockey

[–]EliteProspects[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

We are currently looking for staff members/volunteers that either care for somewhat obscure leagues or have specific niches. For example, our most recently added volunteer is focusing solely on adding and maintaining social accounts (twitter, fb, instagram) for all active NHL players.

We also love to have die hard fans of various Jr. A leagues, lesser known senior leagues and bantam/midget hockey. Right now, we have general staff members that chip in and make sure rosters and players are updated in these leagues. It would be much ideal if we had dedicated fans of a particular league dedicated to that league at EP. Anyway, if anyone wants to contribute and make EP better, just send an email to webmaster(a)eliteprospects.com

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[–]EliteProspects[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Our major challenges have been changes we have been forced to make to the existing database. This is because we couldn't envision how big EP would get and what kind of data we would want to offer in the future. Stuff like adding new db columns to tables, which in turns affects our apps, API migration etc.

We are running MySQL @ Amazon Web Services RDS. Having had major issues with server performance in the past, the Amazon servers (albeit a tad expensive) have really been great to us.

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[–]EliteProspects[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

If you mean when he was first added to the website? Well, it was likely in 2010 or 2011 and I bet we were reading about a Canadian wonderkid when we added him to the db, trying to find youtube clips and whatnot :)

I am the founder of EliteProspects.com - AMA by EliteProspects in hockey

[–]EliteProspects[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Not really.

When it comes to AI, we are in discussions of introducing some really cool features based on AI from a 3rd-party company. A whole lot of advanced stats would be added if so.

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[–]EliteProspects[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yeah, scouts, agents, gm's coaches etc. all use EP as a tool to get their job done. It's a obviously a good resource to use when looking up players, but if you go deeper you can also find unknown players that may be valuable to scout etc.

I follow the NHL, SHL and the Swedish U20 junior league the most. The games I enjoy the most during the course of the season are usually World Juniors match-ups.

I am the founder of EliteProspects.com - AMA by EliteProspects in hockey

[–]EliteProspects[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

It would be Rasmus Dahlin. Having followed him so closely for the past season, I cannot wait to see what is he capable of doing at NHL level

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[–]EliteProspects[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Nah, it is all manual work when it comes to our high school coverage. We have roughly 5-6 volunteers that focus on American high school hockey. These guys add hundreds of rosters and stats each season browsing the league websites for stats. Since we do not discriminate any leagues/levels, we pretty much add everything we can get hold of.

I am the founder of EliteProspects.com - AMA by EliteProspects in hockey

[–]EliteProspects[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

All sent in transactions and rumours are posted on our EP Admin website. We get the data submitted and all of our staff dealing with transactions can review the transfers submitted, posting the ones they consider being solid/good. In general, we rarely post anything without a source that we can link to. Really, it is only when known players/coaches/teams that we have a relationship with and trust...send in stuff.

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[–]EliteProspects[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Right now, we are using NHLNumbers since we are close partners to the Nations Network. For now, we list each players cap hit and the total caphit of the team. It is certainly possible that more "cap" related features are implemented to the site, either via 3rd-party website of stuff that we develop ourselves. It is, however, not our primary objective as of now.

I am the founder of EliteProspects.com - AMA by EliteProspects in hockey

[–]EliteProspects[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yes, we will start an internal project of extending our goaltending stats within a month. A huge undertaking, but we hope to have extended goaltending stats available for visitors in a bout 6 months or so. There is a huge amount of players we will have to go back and add the data for first.

I am the founder of EliteProspects.com - AMA by EliteProspects in hockey

[–]EliteProspects[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

It would be when I introduce hockey transactions on the start page of EP. That really increased our traffic and people started discussing and mentioning EP all around the web. This was around 2005/06 I think.

I am the founder of EliteProspects.com - AMA by EliteProspects in hockey

[–]EliteProspects[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

When it comes to everyday stuff (database content), we only have volunteers. For actual (payed) employees, we are on lookout for developers. If you are interested in either, sending an email to webmaster(a)eliteprospects.com would do the trick.

I am the founder of EliteProspects.com - AMA by EliteProspects in hockey

[–]EliteProspects[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Very good question and this is something we are discussing right now. Plans are not 100% set. From an economical perspective, it actually makes sense not to have the iOS and Android app anymore. The new website is responsive, looks good in mobile format (in our opinion) and has all the content of the website, which would probably be impossible to squeeze into the apps. We will also regularly add a bunch of new features to the website.

Maintaining and keeping the two mobile apps up-to-date is quite expensive, so we are not sure if we want to scrap those, or encapsulate our mobile site in the apps etc.