Every NHL Team's Best U.S. College Alumnus

The “second season” of NCAA Division I men’s hockey begins Friday night with the preliminary round of the Atlantic Hockey, CCHA and ECAC conference tournaments.

The WCHA and Hockey East will join in commencing their playoffs next weekend, and by March 18, the nation will have 16 teams left to vie for a passport to the Frozen Four in Tampa.

Now would be an appropriate time to highlight 30 professional pucksters who spent at least one season in a U.S. college program and are now making a considerable contribution to their respective NHL teams.

Anaheim: Jason Blake

The one-time national champion with the University of North Dakota has made quite a bit out of a little this season. He has tallied five goals and five assists in only 28 appearances, all the while lending some dignity to the Ducks, who are 18-6-4 when he suits up and 9-21-6 when he sits out.

Boston: Tim Thomas

Ironically, the team based in one of America’s most college-dense cities has had one of the NHL’s sparsest collections of NCAA alumni, although three were added at this week's trading deadline.

Regardless, the Bruins have had a rather noteworthy Vermont Catamount alum in their cage, where he is nothing short of invaluable when his game is on.

Buffalo: Thomas Vanek

The Austrian-born scorer gave his professional fanbase a preview of coming attractions in 2003 when, as a freshman at the University of Minnesota, he helped the Gophers to a national title at what was then called HSBC Arena.

Now in his seventh NHL campaign, outside of a January cold spell, Vanek has been one of the few bright spots for Buffalo. He is second on the team with 22 goals and 47 points and leads the Sabres’ power play with nine strikes.

Calgary: David Moss

Unfortunately for the Flames, injuries have denied the Michigan graduate a legitimate opportunity to build upon what might have been his best NHL season in 2010-11.

Carolina: Jamie McBain

Among a group with a limited selection of plus points, McBain has 81 blocked shots (third most on the team) and a 4-4-8 scoring log on the power play going for him. Three years at the University of Wisconsin saw him become progressively prolific from the point before he turned pro in 2008-09.

Chicago: Jonathan Toews

Toews was still not yet 18 years of age when he completed his freshman season at the University of North Dakota. From there on in, both in the second half of his abbreviated college stay and now through his five seasons as a Blackhawk, he has continuously performed and led beyond his years.

Colorado: Erik Johnson

The playmaking point patroller was a one-and-done freshman at the University of Minnesota after being selected first overall in the 2006 NHL draft. Despite missing all of the 2008-09 campaign with an injury, he has managed to break 20 in the assists column in each of his four NHL seasons while toiling for non-playoff teams.

Columbus: R.J. Umberger

Between the Blue Jackets and the Ohio State Buckeyes, Umberger has spent seven of the last 12 seasons in Columbus. In six of those seasons, not counting the ongoing one, he has finished among the team’s top four point-getters and is on pace to do it yet again.

Dallas: Alex Goligoski

The Dallas defender has doled out assists in the double digits each season since he enrolled at the University of Minnesota in 2004-05. This year, his first full one as a Star, is no exception.

Detroit: Jimmy Howard

With their best scorer, Pavel Datsyuk, and best defenseman, Nicklas Lidstrom, both sidelined with injuries, there was no better time than last week for the Red Wings to get their Vezina-caliber goalie back in action.

Howard needs only one more shutout to match his previous career high of six, which was previously set three different times at other levels, including his sophomore and junior years with the Maine Black Bears.

Edmonton: Corey Potter

Hard to find anything appreciable on this perpetually plebeian, patient team, and the selection is especially slim when confined to collegians. But the sixth-year pro and first-year Oiler out of Michigan State will do for these purposes.

Florida: Jason Garrison

Undrafted through three seasons at the University of Minnesota-Duluth, Garrison signed with the Panthers as a free agent in the summer of 2008. He has since brought them a blue-line bullet that is arguably their most valuable power-play asset.

Los Angeles: Jonathan Quick

Could anyone have envisioned Quick backboning the Kings’ playoff hopes when he was fostering his game at UMass-Amherst in the middle of the last decade? Methinks not, but that is what he is doing this season, his third full campaign in the NHL.

Minnesota: Dany Heatley

Heatley led Wisconsin in goal scoring as a freshman and sophomore in 1999-00 and 2000-01. Now he leads the Wild in the same category, as well as total points.

Montreal: Max Pacioretty

One of countless products of Red Berenson’s capstone class, Pacioretty joined the Michigan Wolverines at the Frozen Four in his lone college season in 2007-08. After splitting the next three seasons between Montreal and Hamilton, he is now the Canadiens’ top gun (26 goals) in his first full NHL campaign.

Nashville: Colin Wilson

The former Boston University Terrier is tied for third on Nashville’s charts with 15 goals on the year, tied for first on the team with five game-clinchers and boasts a dozen power-play points.

New Jersey: Zach Parise

Formerly of the University of North Dakota, Parise is all but bound to break 30 in both the goal and assist columns for the fifth time in the last six seasons, the only exception being his injury-shortened 2010-11 campaign.

N.Y. Islanders: Matt Moulson

The Ivy Leaguer (Cornell) did not hit his professional stride until he returned to New York State after two uneventful years in the Kings’ organization. He is now on pace for his third straight 30-goal campaign with the Islanders and currently accounts for 18.5 percent of the team’s strikes while assisting on another 18.5 percent.

N.Y. Rangers: Ryan McDonagh

The former Wisconsin Badgers blueliner now makes a multifaceted career in Manhattan by blocking shots and blanketing forwards in one end and making plays from the point in the other.

Ottawa: Kyle Turris

The Senators are 19-9-4 since Turris, formerly a one-and-done at the University of Wisconsin, made his Ottawa debut Dec. 20. Before that, they were 15-14-4 on the year.

Philadelphia: Matt Carle

Rookie forward Matt Read, fresh out of Bemidji State, would be the choice for the first slot had he not hit a protracted cold spell at the All-Star break after a 15-16-31 start in his first 43 games.

So instead, the stick salute goes to the former Denver defenseman, whose point-based playmaking output has been a tad more consistent and who leads the Flyers with 124 blocked shots.

Phoenix: Adrian Aucoin

Aucoin was drafted in the fifth round by Vancouver after his freshman season at Boston University in 1992. He would abruptly end his days of studying and skating on Commonwealth Avenue and spent the next two years representing his native Canada in various ranks, culminating in the 1994 Olympics.

Now a veteran of 16 NHL seasons, the blueliner has chipped in two goals and eight points in 53 appearances with the Coyotes in 2011-12.

Pittsburgh: Chris Kunitz

Kunitz set a Ferris State program record with 19 career game-winning goals and, as a senior, piloted the Bulldogs to their first NCAA tournament appearance in 2003.

Since then, he has won two Stanley Cups with Anaheim and Pittsburgh and could have a career year this season upon stepping up to help supplement the absence of Sidney Crosby.

St. Louis: Brian Elliott

Elliott backstopped a national championship campaign as a junior with the Wisconsin Badgers, then brooked five years of mediocrity between stops in Madison, Binghamton, Ottawa and Denver.

But in his first year as a Blue, Elliott has crashed out of the blue and teamed up with Jaraslav Halak to arguably constitute the NHL’s best goaltending alliance.

San Jose: Joe Pavelski

One of the aforementioned Elliott’s teammates on Wisconsin’s 2005-06 NCAA title team, Pavelski promptly bolted for the pros after his sophomore season and did not take long to assimilate himself into San Jose. He carries one of the Sharks’ most lethal power-play twigs and is fostering one of the team’s better two-way seasons with a plus-16 rating.

(Side note: This promises to be the last former Badger on this list.)

Tampa Bay: Martin St. Louis

For nearly each of his dozen seasons with the Lightning, St. Louis’ proud representation of his alma mater at Vermont has been no secret.

Toronto: Phil Kessel

The Madison, Wis. native boldly enrolled at the University of Minnesota for the 2005-06 season, all the while listening to speculation that he would be chosen first overall in the subsequent NHL draft.

He ultimately slipped to Boston’s fifth overall pick, but is hardly a disappointment now with his new employers. Kessel’s 32 goals, 36 assists and 13.9 percent shooting accuracy all lead the Leafs and constitute his best numbers since being traded to Toronto prior to the 2009-10 campaign.

Vancouver: Kevin Bieksa

Arguably the Canucks’ toughest defenseman, Bieksa graduated from Bowling Green State in 2004.

Washington: Jeff Halpern

Other than Mike Knuble and Matt Hendricks, the Princeton graduate has no competition for this title. And Halpern is the only college-trained Capital to have had a decent season in all zones.

Winnipeg: Blake Wheeler

Wheeler gives Kessel company as another ex-Minnesota Gopher now at the top of his NHL team’s scoring chart. He is running away for the team lead with 38 assists and has inserted six power-play goals as part of Winnipeg’s valiant push for a playoff spot.