Wednesday, May 22, 2024
Former College Hockey Stars Shine, Seven Up for Major Individual Awards
Award finalists, scoring leaders, and profession milestones highlighted every other 12 months of NCAA alumni making important affect within the National Hockey League all through the 2023-24 common season.
A complete of 327 former school hockey gamers seemed within the NHL all through the common season. The majority of the ones 327 alumni (65%) performed a minimum of 3 years of school hockey.
Forty-five NCAA Division I faculties had a minimum of one alum taking part in within the NHL in 2023-24. Michigan led all faculties with 30 alumni within the NHL, adopted via Minnesota (26), Boston College (22), Boston University (21), UMass (15) and North Dakota (15), Minnesota Duluth (14) and Wisconsin (14).
A couple of former school hockey standouts – Vancouver’s Quinn Hughes (Michigan) and Colorado’s Cale Makar (UMass) – completed 1-2 within the NHL’s scoring race amongst defensemen. In truth, Hughes’ 92 issues have been the second-most ever recorded via a faculty hockey defenseman, trailing simplest Brian Leetch’s (Boston College) 102-point marketing campaign in 1991-92.
Former school hockey gamers have been additionally dominant between the pipes in 2023-24, with 5 NCAA alumni ranked some of the league’s height 8 in targets in opposition to reasonable.
Edmonton’s Zach Hyman (Michigan) used to be one in every of simplest 4 NHLers to attain 50 targets in 2023-24, and his career-high 54 tallies have been essentially the most via an NCAA alum since Hockey Hall of Famer Brett Hull (Minnesota Duluth) had 54 in 1992-93.
NCAA Alums within the NHL | Alums in NHL Front Offices | NHL Matchup Tool
Other highlights incorporated:
AWARDS
- New York Rangers captain Jacob Trouba (Michigan) used to be named the recipient of the Mark Messier NHL Leadership Award on May 14.
- Vancouver’s Quinn Hughes (Michigan) and Colorado’s Cale Makar (UMass) are two of the 3 finalists for the James Norris Memorial Trophy because the NHL’s absolute best defenseman. A former school hockey participant has gained the award in two of the previous 3 seasons: Makar in 2021-22 and the New York Rangers’ Adam Fox (Harvard) in 2020-21.
- Vancouver’s Thatcher Demko (Boston College) and Winnipeg’s Connor Hellebuyck (UMass Lowell) are two of the 3 finalists for the Vezina Trophy because the NHL’s height goalie. Now a four-time finalist, Hellebuyck in the past gained the award in 2019-20.
- Minnesota defenseman Brock Faber (Minnesota) and New Jersey defenseman Luke Hughes (Michigan) are two of the 3 finalists for Calder Memorial Trophy because the NHL’s height rookie. Hughes’ former Michigan teammate, Seattle ahead Matty Beniers, gained the award in 2022-23.
- Carolina defenseman Jaccob Slavin (Colorado College) used to be named one in every of 3 finalists for the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy, awarded “to the player adjudged to have exhibited the best type of sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct combined with a high standard of playing ability.” Slavin in the past gained the award in 2020-21 and used to be runner-up in 2021-22.
MILESTONES
- Four NCAA alumni reached 1,000 profession NHL video games: St. Louis defenseman Nick Leddy (Minnesota), Florida/Buffalo ahead Kyle Okposo (Minnesota), Washington ahead T.J. Oshie (North Dakota) and Boston ahead James van Riemsdyk (New Hampshire).
- Winnipeg goalie Connor Hellebuyck (UMass Lowell) seemed in his five hundredth sport, changing into simply the 6th lively NHL netminder to succeed in that milestone.
- Forty-three NCAA alumni made their NHL debuts and previous school hockey gamers accounted for 36 p.c of all NHL debuts in 2023-24.
- Philadelphia head trainer John Tortorella (Maine) and New York Rangers bench boss Peter Laviolette (Westfield State) turned into simply the 8th and 9th coaches in NHL historical past to have coached in 1,500-plus video games.
STATISTICAL LEADERS
- Nine NCAA alums led their groups in targets in 2023-24: Vancouver’s Brock Boeser (North Dakota), Edmonton’s Zach Hyman (Michigan), Arizona’s Clayton Keller (Boston University), Detroit’s Dylan Larkin (Michigan), Los Angeles’ Trevor Moore (Denver), the New York Islanders’ Brock Nelson (North Dakota), Buffalo’s Tage Thompson (UConn), Ottawa’s Brady Tkachuk (Boston University) and Anaheim’s Frank Vatrano (UMass).
- Five of the NHL’s height 8 in targets in opposition to reasonable have been school hockey merchandise: Winnipeg’s Connor Hellebuyck (UMass Lowell), Vancouver’s Thatcher Demko (Boston College), Seattle’s Joey Daccord (Arizona State), Los Angeles’ Cam Talbot (Alabama-Huntsville), and Boston’s Jeremy Swayman (Maine).
- Three of the NHL’s 4 top-scoring newcomers performed NCAA hockey: New Jersey defenseman Luke Hughes (Michigan), Minnesota defenseman Brock Faber (Minnesota) and Arizona ahead Logan Cooley (Minnesota).
- Minnesota’s Brock Faber (Minnesota) and New Jersey’s Luke Hughes (Michigan) led NHL rookie defensemen in scoring with 47 issues every. Faber additionally paced all NHL rookie skaters in ice time in line with sport (24:58).
FRONT OFFICE
- Half (16-of-32) of the NHL’s common managers in 2023-24 performed school hockey.
- New York Islanders GM Lou Lamoriello (Providence) joined fellow NCAA alumni David Poile (Northeastern) as the one GMs in NHL historical past with greater than 2,800 video games in that function.
- More than 40 p.c (13 out of 32) of the NHL’s head coaches in 2023-24 have been NCAA alumni, together with contemporary Jack Adams Trophy recipients Jim Montgomery (Maine) in Boston, Rod Brind’Amour (Michigan State) in Carolina and John Tortorella (Maine) in Philadelphia.
EDUCATION
- Many lively NHL gamers persisted to paintings towards of completion in their school levels, together with Tampa Bay defenseman Ryan McDonagh, who finished his level in 2023-24 and gained his degree at Wisconsin’s graduation rite previous this month. Ninety-three p.c of NCAA Division I males’s hockey gamers earn their levels.
