Draft:Elite Prospects
Ice hockey statistics and database website
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Elite Prospects (often stylised as EliteProspects and abbreviated to EP) is a Swedish ice hockey statistics website and database. The site indexes players, coaches, teams and leagues across professional, junior and college hockey worldwide. With more than 1.27 million player profiles, it has been described as a world-leading hockey database and as ice hockey's equivalent to Wikipedia.[1][2]
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Type of site | Ice hockey statistics database |
|---|---|
| Available in | English |
| Headquarters | Stockholm, Sweden |
| Founder | Johan Nilsson |
| URL | www |
| Launched | 2 December 1999 |
| Current status | Active |
The site was founded in 1999 by Johan Nilsson, then a high school student in Kalmar, Sweden.[1][3]
History
Elite Prospects was started on 2 December 1999 by Johan Nilsson, a student at Lars Kaggskolan upper-secondary school in Kalmar. Nilsson, originally from Öland, built the site to fill what he saw as a gap in English-language information about Swedish NHL draft prospects. Early content consisted of weekly scouting reports and simple HTML player pages aimed at a North American audience.[1][3][4][5]
The site migrated from static HTML to a MySQL database in 2004. In summer 2005, Nilsson began systematically tracking player transfers, a feature he has cited as the main driver of the site's early growth.[1] In 2007, the site was acquired by the Swedish sports-media company Everysport, with Nilsson continuing to lead it; he transitioned to working on Elite Prospects full-time in 2012.[4]
Live coverage of the NHL Entry Draft was launched in 2010.[1] A subscription tier, EP Premium, was introduced in 2018, marking the site's move from advertising-only revenue to a mixed model.[1] The database surpassed one million registered players in February 2023.[2] A new generation of mobile applications was released in late 2024.[6] For the 2024 World Junior Championship, held in Gothenburg, Elite Prospects was the "official career partner".[7]
The company has offices in Stockholm, Växjö, and Tampa, Florida.[1]
Content and features
Elite Prospects covers ice hockey primarily from under-16 level upwards, with coverage of some North American leagues extending to younger age groups. For North American players, coverage starts at the bantam level (age 13), and for European players it starts at age 15.[7] Each player profile aggregates biographical data, career statistics, transactions, awards and contract information; profiles are organised by league, season and nation, and the site provides a global feed of trades, signings and loans.[2][8] Volunteer fact-checkers update information,[9] and statistical corrections are reviewed by a support team that requires confirmation from leagues or clubs before changes are applied.[1]
Players and hockey staff can claim their own profile through a free verification process based on government-issued ID. Two verification levels are used: a free "blue" verification permitting limited edits, and a "gold" verification (included with EP Premium) permitting broader edits and uploads.[10][11][12] While players can request updates to their height, weight, and points, Elite Prospects requests an official source to verify updates.[9]
EP Premium, the site's subscription tier introduced in 2018, provides access to advanced statistics and additional search and filtering tools.[1][13] As of 2024[update], Elite Prospects has 20,000 active subscriptions, more than half of which are players.[7]
Editorial content — including scouting reports, draft rankings, prospect-pool rankings for NHL organisations and feature articles — is published in the site's news section.[14] Coverage of the NHL Entry Draft includes an annual draft guide and a recurring scout poll.[15][16] Mobile applications are available for iOS and Android,[6] and the company licenses data and an API to clubs, leagues, federations and media organisations through Elite Prospects Enterprise.[17]
Reception
Elite Prospects is widely cited in hockey journalism. TSN has referenced the database in coverage of NHL prospects and player rankings,[18] and the site is regularly used by club beat writers and prospect blogs as a source for player statistics and biographical information.[19]
The site's prevalence in the hockey industry has given rise to the Swedish term EP-scouting, used pejoratively to describe sports directors perceived to rely solely on Elite Prospects' statistics rather than in-person scouting when evaluating signings.[1] In an interview with the Swedish Hockey League, Nilsson noted that "EP-scouting" was likely uncommon at the SHL level but more frequent at lower divisions, particularly when clubs evaluate players from distant leagues.[1]
Initiatives
The Börje Salming Elite Prospect Award
In May 2026, Elite Prospects and the Börje Salming ALS Foundation announced the Börje Salming Elite Prospect Award, a global annual award recognising individuals in hockey whose contributions extend beyond the rink — teammates, coaches, volunteers and parents whose impact is often overlooked. The award honours the legacy of Swedish NHL player Börje Salming, and proceeds and awareness from the initiative support the fight against amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).[20][21]
The selection jury includes Nicklas Lidström, Hayley Wickenheiser, Peter Forsberg, NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly, Pierre McGuire, NHL Alumni Association president Glenn Healy, Anders and Teresa Salming, and Elite Prospects CEO Hannes Andersson, among others.[20] The inaugural recipient is to be named in 2026, with the presentation planned during an NHL game later in the year.[20]