College to NHL

College to NHL

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Last Updated on Sunday, 27 May 2012 23:31

Nearly a third of all NHL players in 2010-11 honed their skills in college before making the leap to the pros

By Kevin Kurtt

Let’s Play Hockey Editor

If you’ve watched nearly any NCAA sporting event on television in the past few years, you’ve seen the ad. You may even be able to recite the tagline: “There are 380,000 NCAA student-athletes, and just about all of them will be going pro in something other than sports.”

It’s a noble campaign directed at educating the masses that most athletes in college will see their athletic careers come to an end at graduation.

In the world of NCAA hockey, the vast majority of players on the 58 Division I and 77 Division II/III men’s teams will not make the jump to the NHL, AHL, ECHL or any other of the various professional hockey leagues around the world. But for a select few, college hockey is merely a steppingstone to the bright lights of the National Hockey League.

In fact, according to our research, 294 players who saw at least one regular season NHL game in 2010-11 honed their skills in college before making the leap to the professional ranks. That number represents nearly a third of all NHL players from the current season. In 2010-11, 52 former collegiate hockey players made their NHL debut.

Leading the list of former college players now in the NHL are standouts such as Tampa Bay’s Martin St. Louis (Vermont), Chicago’s Jonathan Toews (North Dakota) and Patrick Sharp (Vermont), Buffalo’s Thomas Vanek (Minnesota), Vancouver’s Ryan Kesler (Ohio State), San Jose’s Joe Pavelski and Dany Heatley (Wisconsin), Toronto’s Phil Kessel (Minnesota), St. Louis’ David Backes (Minnesota State), Boston’s Tim Thomas (Vermont) Detroit’s Jimmy Howard (Maine) and Buffalo’s Ryan Miller (Michigan State).

Former college players finished the regular season with the second overall pointgetter and assist scorer (St. Louis), second overall plus/minus performer (Backes), fourth overall goal scorer (Kesler), the fifth-ranked rookie pointgetter (Galiardi) and the top-ranked goalie (Thomas)

Breaking down the list of 289 players by college sees the University of Michigan leads the way with 24 players, followed by Wisconsin (20), Boston College (17), Boston University (16), North Dakota (16), Michigan State (15), Minnesota (14) and Colorado College (11).

In the NHL, it sure seems some teams are more likely to sign, trade or draft for a college-bred player than others. In fact, 15 NHL teams had 10 or more college-bred players on the ice this season, led by the Colorado Avalanche (16), Pittsburgh Penguins (16), Florida Panthers (15), Chicago Blackhawks (14) and Vancouver Canucks (14).

Naturally, the state of Minnesota is well-represented among the college-to-the-NHL players. Of the 294 players, there are 42 native Minnesotans, including eight who made their NHL debut this season.

A look at the NHL rosters of last 11 seasons also shows that college hockey players are gaining a stronger foothold in the league. According to our research, 210 players who saw at least one regular season NHL game in 1999-2000 played college hockey before making it to the big leagues. In following seasons, that number has continued to grow (see graph below) to this season’s high mark of 289.

The number of colleges providing players to the NHL has similarly grown over the past 11 seasons, from 39 in 1999-2000 to a high of 47 in 2008-09.

Along the same lines, the numbers of Minnesotan NHL players who also played college hockey has grown over the last 11 seasons. In 1999-2000, there were 25 college-to-the-NHL Minnesota natives. The last four seasons has seen 40 or more.

And the numbers will only continue to grow. During the 2010-11 college hockey season, there were 201 players whose rights were owned by an NHL franchise. In addition, the NHL Central Scouting Service’s rankings for the 2011 Entry Draft list numerous prospects who will head to college hockey programs across the nation this fall.

Phil Housley was the rare hockey player to make the quantum leap from high school to the NHL. Countless Canadians take the Major Junior route before making the jump to the pros. European players compete in the numerous leagues throughout the continent in hopes of someday earning a spot on an NHL team. But for 269 NHL players, college was the path to take.

College to the NHL

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