I may have overlooked it but I have never seen this question asked.

With all other ratings being equal, how many points in WE does a player with Average potential have to have over a guy with Above Average potential for you to consider taking the Average player????

I have seen somewhere in this forum some commentary that goes like this:  Take WE and multiply by the Potential.  With STL=4, High=3, Average=2, Low=1.   I don't know how good that is, but it seems like a reasonable approach and I use that when I have to make a decision based only on that.

Of course, it will all depend on playing time, starts, etc...(assuming all that would be the same).

Remember  also that WE is  the most fluid attribute .

Depends on the level. At D1A both mean less. At D-III I tried to stick to 40 or better WE and only above average, and that softens as I moved up the ladder

I thought potential was the ceiling and work ethic was how fast you get there. Is that not true?

PO is a class and WE is how fast it fills up.

With you caveats, it would still depend on practice plan, starting attribute values and number of games played.

Around 20 in DIII and DII IMO

In D1A it barely matters.