Karlis Cukste Elite Prospects ↗

Position: Defense DOB: 1997-06-17 Country: Latvia

2015 · Round 5, Pick #130 ·

San Jose Sharks

Set Commitment

School

Type

Date (optional)

Detected conference: () — projections will update automatically.

Notes (optional)

Projecting as:

Show:

NCAA Division I

NCAA D3 / D2

Career Trajectory

Dashed = raw PPG · ■ Solid blue = age-adjusted NCAAe-PPG · ■ Green = actual college PPG

Junior Seasons

Season	Team	League	GP	G	A	Pts	PPG	NCAAe-PPG	Age-Adj	D3e-PPG	Age-Adj
2015-16	Chicago Steel	USHL	44	4	11	15	0.341	0.2011	0.2034	1.0239	1.0355
2021-22	Dinamo Riga	KHL	34	0	2	2	0.059	0.1470	0.1669	0.8102	0.9197
2023-24	Brynäs IF	Allsvenskan	49	0	13	13	0.265	0.6632	0.6388	2.4890	2.3974

■ Blue = NCAAe (D1 anchor) ■ Green = D3e (D3 anchor) COVID-flagged seasons highlighted in yellow

College Seasons (Historical)

Season	School	Div	Conference	Year	GP	G	A	Pts	PPG
2019-20	Quinnipiac	D1	ECAC	—	34	4	14	18	0.529
2018-19	Quinnipiac	D1	ECAC	—	38	2	18	20	0.526
2017-18	Quinnipiac	D1	ECAC	—	38	3	10	13	0.342
2016-17	Quinnipiac	D1	ECAC	—	38	5	10	15	0.395

Pre-College Projection vs. Actual Freshman Year

Projected PPG

0.19

before college

→

Actual FR PPG

0.39

2016-17 · Quinnipiac

+105.6% vs. projection

College Pathway Likelihood (based on 40 comparables)

10%

NCAA D1

NCAA D2/D3

90%

Pro / Other

NCAAe Rankings

#696

Defenseman overall

#168

Defenseman born in 1997

D2/3 Comparables

Jason Kalinowski

Endicott · 2015-16

1.310 Elite

actual D2/3 PPG

Jason Yuel

Curry · 2006-07

1.769 Elite

actual D2/3 PPG

Nick Ford

Elmira · 2014-15

0.800 Strong

actual D2/3 PPG

How to read this: NCAAe and D3e factors convert a player's junior PPG into expected NCAA scoring at the D1 or D3 level. Harder conferences → lower projected PPG for the same player. A strong junior player (e.g. USHL 0.90 PPG) will project much higher in NESCAC than Big Ten because the D3 scoring environment is lower-difficulty.

Strength factor: conferences above 1.0 are harder than average; below 1.0 are easier. The formula is: Base NCAAe PPG ÷ Conference Strength = Projected PPG.