The National Hockey League (NHL) announced Tuesday the Opening Night rosters for all 32 teams ahead of the 2022-23 season. The United States Hockey League (USHL) had a total of 193 alumni among those making the Opening Night rosters, including 172 active NHL players and 21 that were listed as injured or non-rostered.
“The USHL is proud of its wonderful association and partnership with the NHL and NHL Opening Night is always a special time of year,” said USHL President & Commissioner
Bill Robertson. “Former USHL players, coaches, scouts, support staff and front office personnel play significant roles in all NHL organizations. Having 193 former USHL players on Opening Night NHL rosters and all 32 NHL teams featuring multiple USHL alumni is a credit to the great development model of our league, commitment by our owners and the strong impact our Member Clubs have on the entire hockey universe.”
All 16 USHL Member Clubs have at least one player on an NHL roster, led by 74 from the USA Hockey National Team Development Program (NTDP) and double-digit totals from the Omaha Lancers (13), Sioux Falls Stampede (13), Sioux City Musketeers (12), Green Bay Gamblers (11), Waterloo Black Hawks (11) and Tri-City Storm (10).
74 – USA Hockey NTDP
13 – Omaha Lancers, Sioux Falls Stampede
12 – Sioux City Musketeers
11 – Green Bay Gamblers, Waterloo Black Hawks
10 – Tri-City Storm
9 – Chicago Steel, Dubuque Fighting Saints,
Indiana Ice
8 – Cedar Rapids RoughRiders, Muskegon Lumberjacks, Youngstown Phantoms
7 – Des Moines Buccaneers
5 – Fargo Force, Lincoln Stars
1 – Madison Capitols
* players are listed for all teams they played in during their USHL career (174 of the 193 alumni played for one team during their career, 18 played for two teams, and one player played for three teams)
The mark of 193 players improves upon last season’s Opening Night total of 151 USHL alumni. The Buffalo Sabres led the way with 12 alumni while the Winnipeg Jets joined them as the only other NHL franchise with a double-digit total (10) as all 32 teams had at least two players listed.
12 – Buffalo Sabres
10 – Winnipeg Jets
9 – Boston Bruins
8 – Chicago Blackhawks, Los Angeles Kings, Minnesota Wild, Philadelphia Flyers, Vancouver Canucks
7 – Calgary Flames, Columbus Blue Jackets, Pittsburgh Penguins, San Jose Sharks, St. Louis Blues
6 – Anaheim Ducks, Florida Panthers, Montreal Canadiens, New York Rangers, Ottawa Senators, Seattle Kraken, Washington Capitals
5 – Arizona Coyotes, Carolina Hurricanes
4 – Colorado Avalanche, Detroit Red Wings, Nashville Predators, New Jersey Devils, New York Islanders, Toronto Maple Leafs
3 – Dallas Stars, Tampa Bay Lightning, Vegas Golden Knights
2 – Edmonton Oilers
Things We’re Watching For:
- Heading into the season, eight players are listed and looking to make their NHL debuts including Cole Koepke (Tampa Bay Lightning) and Jake Sanderson (Ottawa Senators). Non-rostered or injured players who were listed include Matt Filipe (Boston Bruins), Matej Pekar (Buffalo Sabres), Mathias Emilio Pettersen (Calgary Flames), Martin Pospisil (Calgary Flames), Tanner Dickinson (St. Louis Blues) and Mikhail Berdin (Winnipeg Jets).
- In USHL history, 14 players have reached 1,000-or-more NHL games played and seven of those players are currently active including Ryan Suter (1,375), Joe Pavelski (1,336), Paul Stastny (1,175), Blake Wheeler (1,106), Alex Goligoski (1,043), John Carlson (1,1010) and TJ Oshie (1,002). Among those seven, Goligoski (996), Oshie (900) and Carlson (887) are chasing 1,000 regular season games played, a mark met by only nine USHL alumni to date.
- Three USHL alumni are chasing the 1,000 career games played mark including Kyle Okposo (933), Max Pacioretty (924) and Trevor Lewis (909).
- The USHL has 12 former goaltenders on the list, including active career games played leader John Gibson (404). The other 11 netminders are all below 200 career games played including: Alex Stalock (160), Jack Campbell (149), Thatcher Demko (140), Casey DeSmith (97), Cal Petersen (92), Jake Oettinger (86), Spencer Knight (38), Dan Vladar (30), Charlie Lindgren (29), Joseph Woll (4) and Berdin (0).
News and Notes:
- Among the 193 players listed, more than 70 percent have already made their Stanley Cup Playoffs debut.
- Five NHL Head Coaches previously coached in the USHL including Jon Cooper (Tampa Bay Lightning), Don Granato (Buffalo Sabres), Dave Hakstol (Seattle Kraken), Derek Lalonde (Detroit Red Wings) and Jim Montgomery (Boston Bruins). Three of the coaches (Cooper, Granato, Lalonde) served behind the bench of the Green Bay Gamblers.
- 19 Stanley Cup Champion USHL alumni are on the rosters, including multi-time winners Blake Coleman (Tampa Bay Lightning, 2021 & 2020), Trevor Lewis (Los Angeles Kings, 2014 & 2012), Alec Martinez (Los Angeles Kings, 2014 & 2012), Bryan Rust (Pittsburgh Penguins, 2017 & 2016) and Brandon Saad (Chicago Blackhawks, 2015 & 2013). Rust is the only player to win two Cups that is still with his current team.
- Eight other players who have won one Stanley Cup are still with their winning team including John Carlson (Washington Capitals, 2018), Ross Colton (Tampa Bay Lightning, 2021), JT Compher (Colorado Avalanche, 2022), Cal Foote (Tampa Bay Lightning, 2021), Jake Guentzel (Pittsburgh Penguins, 2017), Logan O’Connor (Colorado Avalanche, 2022), TJ Oshie (Washington Capitals, 2018) and Chade Ruhwedel (Pittsburgh Penguins, 2017).
- Every Stanley Cup dating back to the 2012 Stanley Cup has a USHL alumnus currently on NHL Opening Night rosters.
