NHL Playoffs 2016: Where players and coaches got their start in NCAA hockey
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..
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.
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 |