Starzynski was one of the biggest prospects for Poland for a long time. He played in the NAHL, which is unheard of territory for Polish players. He played for the Polish U18 team twice and the U20 team twice. He captained both the U18 and the u20 team once. After playing for Bismarck Bobcats for three years, he committed to the University of Alabama-Huntsville. He would never attend Alabama though and transferred to Northern Michigan University. In his time at Northern Michigan, he has been used as a defensive shutdown center. In 63 games he has put up 4 goals and 5 assists.

His stats are not eye-popping and don’t look to show much potential, but let us see how players with similar statistics have feared. Players who we deemed were a match had played 55 to 75 NCAA games and had 7 to 11 career points from 2000 to 2017. Here is the full list.

Time to break down the outcomes one by one.

Retired. 30 players or 59%

The cruel outcome is most similar players retire after college. Maybe some of them could have played minor league hockey, but didn’t feel it worth it. Still, odds are if you are a 4th liner in college there is not much afterward for you.

ECHL/Minors. 8 players or 16%

Some players do turn pro, but most of their careers are short. Some lasted less than 10 games. There were also more SPHL and FHL players than ECHL. Even those who turn pro don’t see much success.

Still Playing. 13 players or 25%

There are actually a decent amount of players actively playing similar to Starzynski. The only problem is the only notable one is, Chicago Blackhawks 7th round pick, Jack Ramsey. None of these players are the hot college free agents teams are waiting to scoop up.

Starzynski will not live to the potential many Polish fans thought he had. If I had to guess, I could see him being a decent SPHL or ECHL 4th liner. He can win faceoffs and teams always love that. I could also see him just returning to Poland and playing in the PHL. In the PHL he would be able to have success similar to other NCAA players, who made the move to Poland.