Saturday, June 24, 2017

60 NCAA Players Drafted

NHL teams select players or recruits from 30 of 60 Division I programs.

60 NCAA Players Drafted
Cameron Crotty was one of seven Boston University players or recruits selected in the NHL Draft, most of any school.

Half of all Division I programs had a player or recruit selected in the 2017 NHL Draft, with 60 current or future college hockey players drafted in the two-day event at Chicago’s United Center.

Sortable: NCAA Players/Recruits Selected

Six first-round picks began the proceedings on Friday night, followed by 54 additional selections on Saturday. Twenty-nine of the 31 NHL teams selected at least one player on the college path (Calgary and St. Louis the lone exceptions).

Boston University led all schools with seven players or commits selected, the second straight year that the Terriers had the most players taken in the draft. Minnesota, Minnesota Duluth, Penn State and Wisconsin each had four selections.

Eight of the players selected spent 2016-17 in NCAA hockey, led by first-round selections Ryan Poehling (St. Cloud State) and Jake Oettinger (Boston University).

Thirty of the college players selected are defensemen, equaling the number of forwards (25) and goaltenders (5) combined. That follows a trend that saw 37% of NHL defenseman this season come from the college ranks (compared to 32% of all players). Fifteen of the first 100 selections in the draft were current or future NCAA defensemen.

Also noteworthy:

  • The first 12 NCAA players taken represented nine schools
  • Cale Makar (No. 4 overall) became the highest draft choice in University of Massachusetts history; Makar’s future teammate, Mario Ferraro, became the second-highest Minuteman ever selected at 49th overall
  • Jake Oettinger is the first college goaltender selected in the first round of the draft since Cory Schneider (Boston College) in 2004
  • This marked the third year in a row that multiple current college players were selected in the first round of the draft

College hockey had a record 314 former players appear in the NHL in 2016-17, comprising 32% of the league (another record).