Kevin Kurtt

From college to the NHL

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Last Updated on Thursday, 12 July 2012 16:44

A record 300 former U.S. college players appeared in the NHL during the 2011-12 regular season

By Kevin Kurtt
Let’s Play Hockey Editor

If you’ve watched nearly any NCAA sporting event on television in the past several 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, a record 300 players who saw at least one regular season NHL game in 2011-12 honed their skills in college before making the leap to the professional ranks. That number represents 30.5 percent of all NHL players from the current season. In 2011-12, 52 former collegiate hockey players made their NHL debut.

Leading the list of former college players now in the NHL are standouts such as Toronto’s Phil Kessel (Minnesota), Tampa Bay’s Martin St. Louis (Vermont) and Teddy Purcell (Maine), the New York Islanders’ Matt Moulson (Cornell), New Jersey’s Zach Parise (North Dakota), Montreal’s Max Pacioretty (Michigan), San Jose’s Joe Pavelski (Wisconsin), Pittsburgh’s Chris Kunitz (Ferris State), St. Louis’ David Backes (Minnesota State) and Brian Elliott (Wisconsin), Los Angeles’ Jonathan Quick (Massachusetts), Detroit’s Jimmy Howard (Maine) and Boston’s Tim Thomas (Vermont).

Former college players finished the regular season with the sixth overall pointgetter and goal scorer (Kessel), seventh overall plus/minus performer (Chicago’s Patrick Sharp-Vermont), 11th overall assist scorer (St. Louis), the top-ranked rookie goal scorer  (Philadelphia’s Matt Read-Bemidji State) and the top-ranked goalie (Elliott).

Breaking down the list of 300 players by college sees the University of Michigan leads the way with 23 players, followed by Wisconsin (22), Boston College (21), North Dakota (17), Michigan State (16), Minnesota (15) and Colorado College (14).

More than half of the NHLers who played college hockey spent all four years in school, with 74 percent staying at least three years on campus. Eighty-four of the former college players who reached the NHL this year were undrafted free agents.

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, 16 NHL teams had 10 or more college-bred players on the ice this season, led by the Minnesota Wild (18), Tampa Bay Lightning (14), Vancouver Canucks (14), Florida Panthers (13) and San Jose Sharks (13).

Naturally, the state of Minnesota is well-represented among the college-to-the-NHL players. Of the 300 players, there are 49 native Minnesotans, including 10 who made their NHL debut this season.

A look at the NHL rosters of last 12 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 300, a 43 percent increase from 12 years ago.

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 12 seasons. In 1999-2000, there were 25 college-to-the-NHL Minnesota natives. The last five seasons has seen 40 or more.

And the numbers will only continue to grow as 40 players have signed NHL contracts at the conclusion of their 2011-12 college seasons – an average of more than one per NHL team. During the 2011-12 college hockey season, there were over 200 players whose rights were owned by an NHL franchise. In addition, the NHL Central Scouting Service’s rankings for the 2012 Entry Draft list 96 current or future college players.

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 300 NHL players, college was the path to take.

College to the NHL

Thanks to College Hockey, Inc. (www.collegehockeyinc.com) for providing additional data on college hockey players in the NHL.