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Samu Salminen Elite Prospects ↗

Position: Forward DOB: 2003-04-09 Country: Finland
2021 NHL Draft Round 3, Pick #68  ·  New Jersey Devils New Jersey Devils
No commitment set

Set Commitment

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
2019-20 — SM-Liiga-Jr 23 7 13 20 0.870 0.4707 0.4707 1.2915 1.2915
2020-21 — SM-Liiga-Jr 17 10 16 26 1.529 0.8279 0.8279 2.2715 2.2715
2021-22 — SM-Liiga-Jr 44 19 29 48 1.091 0.5905 0.6044 1.6202 1.6584
2022-23 — SM-Liiga-Jr 1 0 0 0 0.000 — — — —
■ 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
2025-26 Denver D1 NCHC SR 43 11 18 29 0.674
2024-25 Denver D1 NCHC — 44 10 18 28 0.636
2023-24 UConn D1 HockeyEast — 35 7 10 17 0.486
2022-23 UConn D1 HockeyEast — 27 9 8 17 0.630
Pre-College Projection vs. Actual Freshman Year
Projected PPG
0.56
before college
→
Actual FR PPG
0.63
2022-23 · UConn
+11.9% vs. projection

College Pathway Likelihood (based on 40 comparables)

25%
NCAA D1
0%
NCAA D2/D3
8%
Age-Out / Club
68%
Pro / Other

NCAAe Rankings

#3466
Forward overall
#72
Forward born in 2003
#25
in SM-Liiga-Jr

D1 Comparables

Austin Ortega
USHL · 2012-13 · 0.91 PPG
→ Nebraska Omaha (0.54 D1 FR PPG)
0.56 Average
NCAAe PPG
C.J. Suess
USHL · 2012-13 · 0.95 PPG
→ Minnesota (0.76 D1 FR PPG)
0.58 Strong
NCAAe PPG
Frank Vatrano
USHL · 2012-13 · 1.00 PPG
→ UMass
0.61 No data
NCAAe PPG
Sheldon Dries
USHL · 2012-13 · 0.91 PPG
→ Western Michigan (0.18 D1 FR PPG)
0.56 Developing
NCAAe PPG
Dennis Kravchenko
USHL · 2012-13 · 1.11 PPG
→ UMass (0.92 D1 FR PPG)
0.68 Elite
NCAAe PPG

D2/3 Comparables

Geordan Buffoline
New England · 2017-18
1.667 Elite
actual D2/3 PPG
John Moncovich
Utica · 2016-17
0.864 Strong
actual D2/3 PPG
Bud Winter
Saint Mary's (MN) · 2017-18
1.091 Elite
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.