The Badgers men’s hockey program has sent plenty of talent to the National Hockey League — Chris Chelios, Jake Gardiner, Joe Pavelski and more. Some would argue some of the best talent the Badgers have ever sent to the NHL are there currently. Let’s look at some of those Badgers in the NHL — where they are, how they’ve done and some of the accolades they have recently accumulated.
Over the past two months, a couple of Badgers in the NHL have accumulated some significant accolades. Former Badger Cole Caufield of the Montreal Canadiens scored his 100th career goal Dec. 31, marking the 18th time a Badger has reached the 100-goal mark in the NHL. He currently has 26 goals this year, good for ninth in the NHL. Caufield also scored 25 goals a season for the last three seasons.
In the games department, former Badger Luke Kunin, currently with the San Jose Sharks, played in his 400th career game Jan. 2. It is also worth noting that he has scored 10 goals a season for the past two seasons.
Furthermore, Madison native Ryan Suter of the St. Louis Blues played in his 1500th career game Feb. 8. Suter, now in his 20th season in the NHL, became only the 22nd player in NHL history to reach this historic mark.
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The most NHL games ever played by an NCAA alumnus is held by Chris Chelios with 1,651 career games played. In third place is Suter, who is now over 1,500. So, Wisconsin produced two of the top three record holders for most career NHL games by an NCAA alumnus. There are many roads to get to the NHL, but players have found a ton of success when they’ve played hockey at Wisconsin.
A fellow member of the Blues, Dylan Holloway, currently has 16 goals, putting him second on the Blues roster for goals. Alex Turcotte of the Los Angeles Kings has gotten his season total to seven goals and 20 points – including the first two-goal, three-point game of his career back on Jan. 16.
Trent Frederic of the Boston Bruins has broken the 30-point marker each of his last two seasons. He currently has eight goals and seven assists, leaving him 15 points away with 25 games left in the season. Jake McCabe, on the Toronto Maple Leafs, has reached 20 points in three of his last four seasons, including 28 points last season, a career-high. He currently sits at one goal and 13 assists with 27 games left.
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Ryan McDonagh of the Tampa Bay Lightning has even more incredible streaks he hopes to maintain. He currently sits at two goals and 16 assists. This marks the seventh season in a row he has scored 10 points in a season and 14 if you ignore his injury-filled season in 2017-18. He has hit 20 points during the last three seasons and if he does it again this year, not only will it be four seasons in a row at 20 points, but it’ll also be the 11th season of his career with 20 points in a season.
Craig Smith, who plays for the Chicago Blackhawks, is eight points away from back-to-back seasons of 20 points with 27 games left as he tries to find a new home in the NHL to reclaim the glory he had in Nashville from 2011-2020.
The Badgers have many talented hockey players in the NHL right now, and this hasn’t even included some of the young talent in the minors. Whether or not the Badgers can make a push for a Big Ten championship this season is yet to be seen, but one thing is for certain, the Badgers in the NHL are making some noise.