At the end of each NHL season, Let’s Play Hockey looks at the top scorers who hail from the State of Hockey. These players were either born in or played youth and high school hockey in Minnesota.
Former Woodbury youth player and Hill-Murray High School star Jake Guentzel led all Minnesotans for the second straight season with 80 points with the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Guentzel was in his first full season with he Lightning and notched 41 goals. Former Edina two-sport star Anders Lee was second in goals with 29 and finished third in points. Warroad’s Brock Nelson turned in another solid year with 26 goals and 56 points for the New York Islanders and Colorado Avalanche.
Here is a list of the top 10:
No. 1 Jake Guentzel
Woodbury, MN – Tampa Bay Lightning
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Once again Jake Guentzel led all Minnesotans in scoring in the NHL after posting an impressive 80-point season in his first season with Tampa Bay. Guentzel led all Minnesotans in goals with 41 and assists with 39.
At age 30, Guentzel has now played in 600 career regular season games in the NHL and has scored 268 goals and added 303 assists for 571 points, almost averaging a point per game.
Guentzel is the son of former Gopher hockey assistant coach Mike Guentzel, and was born in Omaha, Nebraska, but played youth hockey in Woodbury. He played two seasons at Hill-Murray High School, notching 75 points in 2011-12 before joining the Sioux City Musketeers of the USHL. There he had 29 goals and 44 assists in 60 games.
He played college hockey at Nebraska-Omaha and as a senior was an assistant captain and scored 19 goals and 46 points in 35 games.
He was drafted in the third round (77th overall) by the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2013. He played in Pittsburgh for eight seasons and won a Stanley Cup with them in 2016-17. He has also been named to the All-Star team twice. This past season was his third 40-goal season of his career. He signed a 7-year $63 million contract with the Lightning this past offseason. His 80 points this season ranked tied for 26th in the NHL.
Brock Nelson suited up for Team Tria in Da Beauty League opener Wednesday, July 9 after a stellar season with the NY Islanders and Colorado Avalanche.No. 2 Brock Nelson
Warroad, MN – New York Islanders/Colorado Avalanche
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Nelson, a native of Warroad, finished second in scoring amongst Minnesotans with 56 points in 80 games splitting time between the New York Islanders and the Colorado Avalanche. Nelson scored 26 goals and added 30 assists. He ranked No. 101 in the league in scoring.
The 33-year-old graduated from Warroad in 2010 where he notched 39 goals and 34 assists in 25 games as a senior. That summer he was choses in the first round (30th overall) by the New York Islanders. He transitioned directly to the University of North Dakota where he played for two seasons before signing a pro contract. He played a season at Bridgeport in the AHL before joining the Islanders full time in 2013-14. He played parts of the next 12 seasons with the Islanders, serving as assistant captain the past four. He had three straight 30-goal seasons form 2021-2024.
This past season he was traded to Colorado late in the season. He has also been a member of Team USA in international competition. In his career, Nelson has played 920 games in 14 seasons and scored 301 goals and added 286 assists for 587 career points. If he plays a full season in 2025-26 he will surpass the 1,000-game mark, something that has been achieved by 13 other Minnesotans. Nelson signed a 3-year contract with the Avalanche on June 4, reportedly worth $22.5 million.
No. 3 Anders Lee
Edina, MN – New York Islanders
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Anders Lee continues to be a consistent force for the New York Islanders and was a longtime teammate of Brock Nelson before Nelson was traded to Colorado late last season. Lee scored 29 goals this past season and added 25 assists for 54 points, ranking 106th in the league.
The 34-year-old played two seasons with Edina High School graduating in 2009 where he scored 20 goals and added 46 assists. He was drafted that summer in the sixth round (152nd overall) by the Islanders. He played one season in the USHL for Green Bay and had 35 goals and 66 points in 59 games.
He attended the University of Notre Dame where he played three seasons before joining the Islanders late in the 2014 season. He has played 13 seasons for the Islanders and served as team captain for the past seven. He has nine seasons where he has scored 20 or more goals and has scored more than 30 once and 40 once. In his career he has played in 841 games and has 289 goals and 218 assists for 507 points. Lee will be in the final year of a 7-year $49 million contract during the 2025-26 season. He will become an unrestricted free agent after next season.
Boeser, a native of Burnsville, was recently resigned by Vancouver.No. 4 Brock Boeser
Burnsville, MN – Vancouver Canucks
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Boeser had another stellar season with the Canucks, notching 25 goals and matching with 25 assists in 75 games, ranking 127th amongst NHL scorers. A native of Burnsville, MN, Boeser played at Burnsville High School for two seasons before joining Waterloo of the USHL where he racked up 35 goals and 68 points in 57 games. He was drafted in 2015 in the first round (23rd overall) by Vancouver.
After playing two seasons at the University of North Dakota, Boeser jumped to the big club in Vancouver late in the 2017 season. This past season was his ninth with the Canucks where he has played in 554 games and scored 204 goals and added 230 assists for 434 points.
Boeser recently re-signed with he Canucks for seven years and $50.75 million. He is a six-time 20-goals scorer and had a career-high 40 goals in 2023-24.
No. 5 Bobby Brink
Minnetonka, MN – Philadelphia Flyers
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Minnetonka native Bobby Brink finished his third season with the Flyers and finished fifth amongst Minnesotans in scoring in the NHL with 12 goals and 29 assists in 79 games.
Brink played at Minnetonka through 2018 and was part of the state championship team, and then joined the Sioux City Musketeers of the USHL as well as played in the USNDTP. In 2019 he was drafted in the second round (34th overall) by the Flyers after being named Forward of the Year in the USHL after scoring 35 goals and 68 points in 43 games.
He attended the University of Denver where he put up solid numbers and was a member of the 2022 National Championship team, scoring 57 points and becoming a Hobey Baker Award Finalist. He signed with the Flyers after the title win and played 10 games late in 2022 notching four assists. The next season he played in the AHL and had 28 points in 41 games. He played 57 games for the Flyers in 2023-24, scoring 11 goals and adding 12 assists. This past season was his first full season with the Flyers, playing in 79 games.
Brink, 23, is currently signed to a two-year, $3 million contract through next season.
No. 6 Casey Mittelstadt
Eden Prairie, MN – Boston Bruins 
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Former Mr. Hockey winner Casey Mittelstadt is with his third NHL team having been traded to the Bruins form the Colorado Avalanche last season. Between the two clubs he played in 81 games and had 15 goals and 25 assists.
Mittelstadt was one of the top prospects to come out of Minnesota in the past decade. After a great career at Eden Prairie High School, he was drafted No. 8 overall in the 2016 draft by the Buffalo Sabres. He went on to play the University of Minnesota for just one season in 2017-18 before joining the Sabres late in the 2018 season. He played parts of seven seasons with the Sabres before joining Colorado where he played a season and a half before joining the Bruins this past season. At age 26, he has played in 438 NHL games and scored 81 goals and added 155 assists for 236 points. Mittelstadt is in the second year of a three-year contract worth $17.25 million. He will be an unrestricted free agent in 2027.
No. 7 Neal Pionk
Hermantown, MN – Winnipeg Jets
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Pionk, a native of Hermantown, MN, is the top-scoring defenseman amongst Minneosta players with 10 goals and 29 assists this past season for the Winnipeg Jets. Pionk played two seasons at Hermantown High School and then joined the USHL in 2013-14 and played two full seasons for Sioux City, serving as captain in year two. He went on to play at the University of Minnesota-Duluth for two seasons.
Undrafted, he was signed by the New York Rangers and played 28 NHL games in 2017-18. He played 73 games for the Rangers in 2018-19 and then was signed by the Winnipeg Jets for the 2019-2020 season. He has played in 536 NHL games and notched 44 goals and 212 assists for 256 points and is a +22 for his career. He recently signed a six-year $42 million extension with the Jets.
No. 8 Noah Cates
Stillwater, MN – Philadelphia Flyers
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Noah Cates went viral when he scored a spin-o-rama game winning goal against Hill-Murray in the section finals to lift the Stillwater Ponies to the state tournament. The team crashed the glass and the post-game celly became a must-see for hockey fans everywhere.
Since then Cates has done nothing but gotten better. After his career at Stillwater, he was drafted in the fifth round by the Flyers, 137th overall. He played two seasons for Omaha in the USHL and then played four years at the University of Minnesota-Duluth where he was captain his final two seasons and won a national title in 2019. He was signed by the Flyers in 2022 and played 16 games with the parent club and scored five goals and added four assists.
Cates, 26, just finished his fourth season with the Flyers and in his career has played in 235 games and has 40 goals and 62 assists. On June 3 he signed a 4-year $16 million contract with the Flyers.
No. 9 Jackson Blake
Eden Prairie, MN – Carolina Hurricanes
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Blake is the youngest player to crack the top 10 in scoring for Minnesota players. At age 21 he scored 17 goals and added 17 assists in 80 games played for the Carlina Hurricanes.
Blake played two seasons at Eden Prairie High School before joining the Chicago Steel of the USHL where he put up strong numbers (61-27-50-77) in his second season there. He joined the University of North Dakota in 2022-23 and played two seasons for the Fighting Hawks with 102 points in 79 games and being named a finalist for the Hobey Baker Award in 2024.
Blake played one game for Carolina following his season at North Dakota, and just finished his first full season with the Hurricanes, suiting up for 80 games. He is currently signed to a 3-year, $2.72 million contract.
No. 10 Brady Skjei
Lakeville, MN – Nashville Predators
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Skjei is a native of Lakeville, MN who spent a good portion of his amateur career in USA Hockey’s development program. He was drafted in 2012 by the New York Rangers in the first round (28th overall) by the New York Rangers. He played three seasons for the University of Minnesota and made his NHL debut for the Rangers during the 2015-16 season. He played five seasons with the Rangers and then five seasons with Carolina before joining Nashville this past season, appearing in all 82 games for the Predators.
He has played in 691 NHL games and scored 78 goals and added 202 assists for 280 points. He is currently signed to a 7-year, $49 million contract with the Predators.
