Every year, we have the same debate about the Top 25 Under 25: how do you compare players with high potential to players who have actually player NHL games? On the extremes, this is easy. Everyone would put Erik Brannstrom ahead of Nick Paul, even though the latter has 54 more NHL games. But it becomes harder within certain ranges. Is Brannstrom ahead of Brady Tkachuk, even though Tkachuk has proven he can at least be a top-six NHL player and Brannstrom has proven nothing in the NHL?
Everyone evaluates these things differently.