Notre Dame Hockey: Record number of former Irish players in NHL in 2020

With former captain of the Irish hockey team, Jake Evans, being called up last week, Notre Dame hockey now has had 16 former players play in the NHL this season.

When the former captain of the Notre Dame hockey team, Jake Evans, made his NHL debut with the Montreal Canadians last Thursday, the total number of former Irish players to play in the league this season hit an all-time record at 16 in a single season.

The list includes Evans (Montreal Canadians), Ander Bjork (Boston Bruins), Steven Fogarty (New York Rangers), Ian Cole (Colorado Avalanche), Thomas Di Pauli (Pittsburgh Penguins), Dennis Gilbert (Chicago Blackhawks), Vinnie Hinostroza (Arizona Coyotes), T.J. Tynan (Colorado Avalanche), Anders Lee (New York Islanders), Riley Sheahan (Edmonton Oilers), Stephen Johns (Dallas Stars) Kyle Palmieri (New Jersey Devils), Andrew Peeke (Columbus Blue Jackets), Bryan Rust (Pittsburgh Penguins) Cal Petersen (Los Angeles Kings) and Jordan Gross (Arizona Coyotes).

The vast number of former players who have played this season is a testament to the caliber of the Notre Dame hockey program that head coach Jeff Jackson has developed during his 15-year tenure with the Irish.

Since coming to Notre Dame in 2005, Jackson has seen 23 former players make it to the National Hockey League. That accounts for 62 percent of all of the former Irish hockey players to have ever made it to the NHL, which is indicative of just how much Jackson has done to build up the Notre Dame hockey program since coming to South Bend.

Since Jackson took over the program, he has had a plethora of players be drafted into the NHL. Three of those players — Ian Cole (2007, St. Louis Blues), Kyle Palmieri (2009, Anaheim Ducks) and Riley Sheahan (2010 Detroit Red Wings) — were first-round draft picks.

Former Irish players Brock Faber, Ryan Helliwell, Ryder Rolston, Grant Salianoff, and Landon Slaggert represent players who are currently being considered as prospects to be drafted in the upcoming 2020 NHL Draft that begins on June 26th.

Current Notre Dame players Cam Morrison (2016, Colorado Avalanche), Nate Clurman (2016, Colorado Avalanche), Nick Leivermann (2017, Colorado Avalanche), and Matt Hellickson (2017, New Jersey Devils), Spencer Stastney (2018, Nashville Predators), Jake Pivonka (2018, New York Islanders) and Trevor Janicke (2019, Anaheim Ducks) have already been drafted by NHL teams.

With NCAA Tournament appearances in 10 of the 15 seasons that Jackson has been the head coach, including four Frozen Four appearances, the state of the Notre Dame hockey program is extremely strong.

With the team currently ranked fifth in the Big 10 Conference, they will need to make a major push in the final stretch of the regular season if they hope to make their seventh tournament appearance in the past 8 years. While they certainly have the talent on their roster to win the Big 10 and make the tournament, time is running out for the Irish.

Upcoming matchups with Minnesota, Michigan and Michigan State to close out the regular season will go a long way in determining their seed heading into the Big 10 Conference tournament.  Currently, Minnesota and Michigan State are both ranked ahead of the Irish, making victories against them imperative if they hope to improve their rankings heading into the tournament.

Regardless of how the remainder of this season plays out for the Irish hockey team, it is abundantly clear that head coach Jeff Jackson has transformed Notre Dame into one of the elite programs in all of college hockey.