This story has been updated to include two NCHC alumni (Jackson Blake and Victor Mancini) added to NHL rosters on Oct. 9 after initial opening-night rosters were announced on Oct. 8.

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – With the 2024-25 National Hockey League (NHL) season in North America underway, 50 former National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC) players have been named to NHL opening-night rosters. Along with those 50, another 12 alumni of NCHC teams, who didn’t play in the NCHC, landed a spot on opening-night rosters. In all, a total of 62 alumni from NCHC teams will begin the 2024-25 season on NHL rosters.
 
The 50 NCHC alumni selected to NHL rosters are the most in the Conference’s 11-year history, topping the 46 in 2022-23. Among the 62 former players of NCHC teams on rosters as of Wednesday, seven were listed as injured reserve/non-roster.
 
Among NCHC alumni only, Minnesota Duluth leads the way with 11 former NCHC players starting the season in the NHL. The Bulldogs have 12 alumni overall currently on NHL rosters. North Dakota leads all NCHC teams with 14 alumni on opening-night rosters, including 11 who played in the NCHC. Denver and St. Cloud State each placed nine (9) NCHC alumni in the NHL to start the year, with DU seeing 11 alumni overall in the NHL and SCSU having 10 alumni make NHL rosters.
 
Miami has six (6) alumni on NHL opening-night rosters, including four who played in the NCHC. All nine NCHC teams, including Arizona State, have at least two alumni beginning the season in the NHL.
 
Among NHL teams, Ottawa and Vancouver each have five alumni of NCHC teams, including four each who played in the NCHC. Philadelphia, and now Carolina, also have four NCHC alumni on its roster to start the season. Boston, Tampa Bay and Winnipeg all have three NCHC alums on their roster. The Senators feature four alumni from North Dakota, while Winnipeg has a trio of former Bulldogs. The newest NHL franchise, the Utah Hockey Club, features a pair of alumni from NCHC teams in former UND forward Nick Schmaltz and former Arizona State forward Josh Doan.
 
A total of 25 NHL teams have at least one NCHC alumnus on their opening-night roster. The only NHL teams without NCHC alumni currently are Dallas, Florida, Minnesota, Montreal, San Jose, Toronto and Vegas.
 
Of the 50 NCHC alumni on opening-night rosters, 29 are forwards, 20 are defensemen and one is a goaltender in former St. Cloud State standout Charlie Lindgren, now of the Washington Capitals. Of the 62 overall alumni on NHL opening rosters, 35 are forwards, 25 are defensemen and two (2) are netminders.

In addition to the former players, former Denver head coach Jim Montgomery (2013-18) starts his third season at the helm of the Boston Bruins, after winning the Jack Adams Award in 2023.
 
Last year, 60 NCHC alumni played at least one game in the NHL, including eight (8) players making their debut. Entering the 2024-25 season, 105 NCHC alumni have played at least one game in the NHL in the conference’s 11-year history.
 
Below is a list of all NCHC teams’ alumni on an opening-night NHL roster (including those on injured reverse/non-roster) broken down by alma mater (NCHC alumni/total alumni in parentheses). Those that played collegiately prior to their team joining the NCHC are denoted with an asterisk (*):
 
ARIZONA STATE (0/2)
*Joey Daccord, G, Seattle
*Josh Doan, F, Utah
 
COLORADO COLLEGE (1/2)
*Jaden Schwartz, F, Seattle
Jaccob Slavin, D, Carolina
 
DENVER (9/11)
Bobby Brink, F, Philadelphia
Shai Buium, D, Detroit (IR)
Dylan Gambrell, F, Columbus
Danton Heinen, F, Vancouver
*Scott Mayfield, D, New York Islanders
Ian Mitchell, D, Boston
Trevor Moore, F, Los Angeles
Logan O’Connor, F, Colorado
Troy Terry, F, Anaheim
Cameron Wright, F, Edmonton (IR)
*Jason Zucker, F, Buffalo
 
MIAMI (4/6)
Blake Coleman, F, Calgary
Sean Kuraly, F, Columbus
*Alec Martinez, D, Chicago
Jack Roslovic, F, Carolina
Kiefer Sherwood, F, Vancouver
*Reilly Smith, F, New York Rangers
 
MINNESOTA DULUTH (11/12)
Joey Anderson, F, Chicago
Mikey Anderson, D, Los Angeles
Noah Cates, F, Philadelphia
*Justin Faulk, D, St. Louis
Alex Iafallo, F, Winnipeg
Wyatt Kaiser, D, Chicago (IR)
Cole Koepke, F, Boston
Scott Perunovich, D, St. Louis
Neal Pionk, D, Winnipeg
Dylan Samberg, D, Winnipeg
Carson Soucy, D, Vancouver
Riley Tufte, F, Boston
 
NORTH DAKOTA (11/14)
Jacob Bernard-Docker, D, Ottawa
Jackson Blake, F, Carolina
Brock Boeser, F, Vancouver
*Derek Forbort, D, Vancouver
Tyson Jost, F, Carolina
Tyler Kleven, D, Ottawa
*Brock Nelson, F, New York Islanders
*T.J. Oshie, F, Washington (IR)
Shane Pinto, F, Ottawa
Tucker Poolman, D, Colorado (IR)
Jake Sanderson, D, Ottawa
Nick Schmaltz, F, Utah
Cole Smith, F, Nashville
Troy Stecher, D, Edmonton
 
OMAHA (3/3)
Jake Guentzel, F, Tampa Bay
Victor Mancini, D, New York Rangers
Nick Seeler, D, Philadelphia
 
ST. CLOUD STATE (9/10)
Will Borgen, D, Seattle
Jonny Brodzinski, F, New York Rangers
Dennis Cholowski, D, New York Islanders
Nic Dowd, F, Washington
Mikey Eyssimont, F, Tampa Bay (IR)
*Nick Jensen, D, Ottawa
Charlie Lindgren, G, Washington
Blake Lizotte, F, Pittsburgh (IR)
Nick Perbix, D, Tampa Bay
Ryan Poehling, F, Philadelphia
 
WESTERN MICHIGAN (2/2)
Paul Cotter, F, New Jersey
Mattias Samuelsson, D, Buffalo