Saturday, April 18, 2026

Cup Chase Begins Saturday for NCAA Alumni

More Than 130 NCAA Alums on NHL Stanley Playoff Rosters

Cup Chase Begins Saturday for NCAA Alumni

College hockey will be well-represented during the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs, with 137 NCAA alumni listed on NHL playoff rosters as the quest for the Stanley Cup begins Saturday.

Thirty-six different schools – from all six NCAA Division I conferences – are represented on NHL rosters as of Saturday morning. Boston College has the most alums of any school with 15, followed by Boston University and North Dakota with nine each.

Michigan (eight), Minnesota (eight), Notre Dame (eight), Harvard (seven), Denver (six), Northeastern (six), Providence (six) and Wisconsin (six) all have at least six former players competing.

Among the 137 alumni are three past winners of the Hobey Baker Memorial Award: Montreal’s Cole Caufield (Wisconsin, 2021), Vegas’ Jack Eichel (Boston University, 2015), and Colorado’s Cale Makar (UMass, 2019).

Colorado boasts the most NCAA alumni among the 16 playoff teams with 13 players, followed by Anaheim (11), Utah (11) and Boston (10). The first-round series with the most former college hockey players is the Buffalo-Boston matchup, which features 23:

Rostered NCAA Alumni by Series:
23 – Buffalo (13) vs. Boston (10)
18 – Carolina (9) vs. Ottawa (9)
17 – Colorado (9) vs. Los Angeles (8)
17 – Vegas (6) vs. Utah (11)
17 – Edmonton (6) vs. Anaheim (11)
17 – Pittsburgh (9) vs. Philadelphia (8)
15 – Tampa Bay (7) vs. Montreal (8)
13 – Dallas (4) vs. Minnesota (9)

First-Round Series Involving Former Teammates:

Buffalo vs. Boston

  • Michael Kesselring vs. Jordan Harris (2019-20 and 2020-21 at Northeastern)
  • Jordan Greenway vs. Charlie McAvoy (2015-16 and 2016-17 at Boston University)

Carolina vs. Ottawa

  • Jackson Blake vs. Tyler Kleven (2022-23 at North Dakota)

Colorado vs. Los Angeles

  • Logan O’Connor vs. Trevor Moore (2015-16 at Denver)
  • Sam Malinski vs. Jeff Malott (2019-20 at Cornell)

Edmonton vs. Anaheim

  • Zach Hyman vs. Jacob Trouba (2012-13 at Michigan)

Pittsburgh vs. Philadelphia

  • Tommy Novak vs. Nick Seeler (2015-16 at Minnesota)

Tampa Bay vs. Montreal

  • Steven Santini vs. Mike Matheson (2013-14 and 2014-15 at Boston College)

In addition to NCAA alumni dotting NHL playoff rosters, six of the teams competing in the Stanley Cup Playoffs are helmed by general managers who played college hockey: Buffalo’s Jarmo Kekäläinen (Clarkson), Colorado’s Chris MacFarland (Pace), Minnesota’s Bill Guerin (Boston College), Montreal’s Kent Hughes (Middlebury), Vegas’ Kelly McCrimmon (Michigan), and Boston’s Don Sweeney (Harvard).

Five of the qualifying teams are coached by former NCAA players: Carolina’s Rod Brind’Amour (Michigan State), Minnesota’s John Hynes (Boston University), Pittsburgh’s Dan Muse (Stonehill), Montreal’s Martin St. Louis (Vermont), and Vegas’s John Tortorella (Maine). Additionally, Tampa Bay head coach Jon Cooper played club hockey at Hofstra.

The 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs get underway Saturday night with the Carolina-Ottawa, Dallas-Minnesota and Pittsburgh-Philadelphia series. Click HERE to visit College Hockey Inc.’s NHL Matchup Tool for all NHL players and staff with NCAA ties.

Take part in the 2026 NHL Bracket Challenge and enter your own bracket at NHL.com/CollegeHockey.