Courtney Martinez | NCAA.com | April 14, 2016 NHL Playoffs 2016: Where players and coaches got their start in NCAA hockey Share The NHL Playoffs begin on Wednesday with the Stanley Cup on the line and the rosters are chock-full of players that made their way up from the ranks of NCAA hockey. Out of the 60 teams in Division I, 36 different programs have combined for 121 players on current 16 NHL playoff rosters. Minnesota leads all teams with 11 former players while recent champion North Dakota and Wisconsin tie for second with nine each. As far as which professional franchise has the most former players, the Pittsburgh Penguins have 15 players on their roster while Minnesota Wild have 14, including five that also played college hockey in The Land of 10,000 Lakes. The Eastern Conference outnumbers the Western Conference by 11 players.. 2009 Boston University championship team The most members from a NCAA championship team goes to the 2009 Boston Terriers, represented by Nashville’s Colin Wilson, Islanders’ Brian Strait, Pittsburgh’s Nick Bonino, San Jose’s Kevin Shattenkirk. Fellow Beanpot member Boston College has three with its 2012 national championship team (Kevin Hayes and Chris Kreider for Rangers, Brian Dumoulin for Penguins). A total of 18 players won a national championship during their time in the NCAA, with Paul Martin and Matt Carle the only two to win a pair of NCAA titles. Martin won back-to-back national titles with the 2002 and 2003 Minnesota team and Carle followed the feat with the 2004 and 2005 Denver teams. The NHL playoffs aren't just limited to the players on the roster, but the team's head coaches as well who either played or coached in the NCAA. Flyers and former UND head coach Dake Hakstol Red Wings head coach Jeff Blashill was at the helm of Western Michigan's program for just one season, but earned several coach of the year honors with the Broncos. Mike Sullivan, who took over as Pittsburgh head coach in December, spent four seasons at Boston University from 1986-90 before a successful 11-year playing career in the NHL. NY Islanders' head coach Jack Caupano remains the highest-scoring defenseman for the University of Maine. Phildelphia Flyers head coach Dave Hakstol, who has reached the playoffs in his first season, played and coach at North Dakota. Hakstol attended UND from 1989-92 and made seven Frozen Four appearances in 11 seasons as head coach with a 289-141-43 record. Here is the full breakdown of players by college, NHL team and years played based on College Hockey Inc databases. *Editor's Note: Rosters and figures are current at time of publication. Player College Yrs NHL Jay Beagle Alaska-Anchorage 2 Washington Capitals Colton Parakyo Alaska-Fairbanks 3 St. Louis Blues Matt Read Bemidji 4 Philadelphia Flyers Patrick Eaves Boston College 3 Dallas Stars Michael Matheson Boston College 3 Florida Panthers Rob Scuderi Boston College 4 Los Angeles Kings Chris Kreider Boston College 3 N.Y. Rangers Kevin Hayes Boston College 4 N.Y. Rangers Brian Dumoulin Boston College 3 Pittsburgh Penguins Brian Boyle Boston College 4 Tampa Bay Lightning Brooks Orpik Boston College 3 Washington Capitals Charlie Coyle Boston Univ. 2 Minnesota Wild Colin Wilson Boston Univ. 2 Nashville Predators Brian Strait Boston Univ. 3 N.Y. Islanders Nick Bonino Boston Univ. 3 Pittsburgh Penguins Matt Nieto Boston Univ. 3 San Jose Sharks Kevin Shattenkirk Boston Univ. 3 St. Louis Blues Kevin Bieksa Bowling Green State 4 Anaheim Ducks Ryan Garbutt Brown 4 Anaheim Ducks Nate Prosser Colorado College 4 Minnesota Wild Jaden Schwartz Colorado College 2 St. Louis Blues Willie Mitchell Clarkson 2 Florida Panthers Chris Wagner Colgate 2 Anaheim Ducks David Jones Dartmouth 3 Minnesota Wild Tanner Glass Dartmouth 4 N.Y. Rangers Ben Lovejoy Dartmouth 4 Pittsburgh Penguins Nick Shore Denver 3 Los Angeles Kings Jason Zucker Denver 2 Minnesota Wild Beau Bennett Denver 2 Pittsburgh Penguins Paul Stastny Denver 2 St. Louis Blues Matt Carle Denver 2 Tampa Bay Lightning Chris Kunitz Ferris St. 4 Pittsburgh Penguins Dominic Moore Harvard 4 N.Y. Rangers Alex Killorn Harvard 4 Tampa Bay Lightning Scott Darling Maine 2 Chicago Blackhawks Jimmy Howard Maine 3 Detroit Red Wings Gustav Nyquist Maine 3 Detroit Red Wings Teddy Purcell Maine 1 Florida Panthers Ben Bishop Maine 3 Tampa Bay Lightning Reilly Smith Miami (Ohio) 3 Florida Panthers Alec Martinez Miami (Ohio) 3 Los Angeles Kings Dan Boyle Miami (Ohio) 4 N.Y. Rangers Jeff Zatkoff Miami (Ohio) 3 Pittsburgh Penguins Tommy Wingels Miami (Ohio) 3 San Jose Sharks Andrew Cogliano Michigan 2 Anaheim Ducks Dylan Larkin Michigan 1 Detroit Red Wings Luke Glendening Michigan 4 Detroit Red Wings Al Montoya Michigan 3 Florida Panthers Steve Kampfer Michigan 4 Florida Panthers Eric Nystrom Michigan 4 Nashville Predators Carl Hagelin Michigan 4 Pittsburgh Penguins Kevin Porter Michigan 4 Pittsburgh Penguins Shawn Horcoff Michigan State 4 Anaheim Ducks Duncan Keith Michigan State 2 Chicago Blackhawks Justin Abdelkader Michigan State 3 Detroit Red Wings Drew Miller Michigan State 3 Detroit Red Wings Alex Goligoski Minnesota 3 Dallas Stars Nick Bjugstad Minnesota 3 Florida Panthers Thomas Vanek Minnesota 2 Minnesota Wild Jordan Schroeder Minnesota 2 Minnesota Wild Erik Haula Minnesota 3 Minnesota Wild Nick Leddy Minnesota 1 N.Y. Islanders Kyle Okposo Minnesota 2 N.Y. Islanders Brady Skjei Minnesota 3 N.Y. Rangers Phil Kessel Minnesota 1 Pittsburgh Penguins Paul Martin Minnesota 3 San Jose Sharks Nate Schmidt Minnesota 3 Washington Capitals Justin Fontaine Minnesota Duluth 4 Minnesota Wild J.T. Brown Minnesota Duluth 2 Tampa Bay Lightning Jason Garrison Minnesota Duluth 3 Tampa Bay Lightning Matt Niskanen Minnesota Duluth 2 Washington Capitals Ryan Carter Minnesota State 2 Minnesota Wild David Backes Minnesota State 3 St. Louis Blues Andrej Sustr Nebraska Omaha 3 Tampa Bay Lightning Jonathan Toews North Dakota 2 Chicago Blackhawks Rocco Grimaldi North Dakota 3 Florida Panthers Matt Greene North Dakota 3 Los Angeles Kings Zach Parise North Dakota 2 Minnesota Wild Chris Porter North Dakota 4 Minnesota Wild Brock Nelson North Dakota 2 N.Y. Islanders Chris VandeVelde North Dakota 4 Phildelphia Flyers Taylor Chorney North Dakota 3 Washington Capitals TJ Oshie North Dakota 3 Washington Capitals Stephen Johns Notre Dame 4 Dallas Stars RIley Sheahan Notre Dame 3 Detroit Red Wings Anders Lee Notre Dame 3 N.Y. Islanders Ian Cole Notre Dame 3 Pittsburgh Penguins Bryan Rust Notre Dame 4 Pittsburgh Penguins Erik Condra Notre Dame 4 Tampa Bay Lightning Mike Santorelli Northern Michigan 3 Anaheim Ducks Josh Manson Northeastern 3 Anaheim Ducks Jamie Oleksiak Northeastern 1 Dallas Stars Anthony Bitetto Northeastern 2 Nashville Predators Ryan Kesler Ohio State 1 Anaheim Ducks Zac Dalpe Ohio State 2 Minnesota Wild RJ Umberger Ohio State 3 Philadelphia Flyers Matt Taormina Providence 4 Tampa Bay Lightning Brandon Pirri RPI 1 Anaheim Ducks Matt Cullen St. Cloud State 2 Pittsburgh Penguins Jonathan Quick UMass 2 Los Angeles Kings Conor Sheary UMass 4 Pittsburgh Penguins Justin Braun UMass 4 San Jose Sharks Christian Folin UMass-Lowell 2 Minnesota Wild Carter Hutton UMass-Lowell 4 Nashville Predators Scott Wilson UMass-Lowell 3 Pittsburgh Penguins Trevor van Riemsdyk UNH 3 Chicago Blackhawks Daniel Winnik UNH 3 Washington Capitals Shayne Gostisbehere Union 3 Philadelphia Flyers Patrick Sharp Vermont 2 Dallas Stars Viktor Stalberg Vermont 3 N.Y. Rangers Danny DeKeyser Western Michigan 3 Detroit Red Wings Matt Tennyson Western Michigan 3 San Jose Sharks Brendan Smith Wisconsin 3 Detroit Red Wings Jamie McBain Wisconsin 3 Los Angeles Kings Ryan Suter Wisconsin 1 Minnesota Wild Craig Smith Wisconsin 2 Nashville Predators Derek Stepan Wisconsin 2 N.Y. Rangers Ryan McDonagh Wisconsin 3 N.Y. Rangers Justin Schultz Wisconsin 3 Pittsburgh Penguins Joe Pavelski Wisconsin 2 San Jose Sharks Brian Elliott Wisconsin 4 St. Louis Blues History of Conn Smythe Trophy winners for NHL playoff MVP, by college In all, eight former college hockey players have won Conn Smythe Trophies. READ MORE NCAA Ice Hockey Rules Committee proposes changes to video review challenges The NCAA Men's and Women's Ice Hockey Rules Committee proposed a significant overhaul to the video replay process at its meeting this week in Indianapolis. 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