The CCHA has seen some recent success nationally, and with the conference seeing more draft picks every year, who are these names, and which teams are hogging the most NHL draft picks on their roster?
The CCHA isn’t known for producing NHL talent, but as more players became eligible for the NCAA, the CCHA has seen an uptick in NHL draft picks, and although none of them are first-round picks, you always have to start somewhere.
The conference has a total of 27 draft picks with Lake Superior State and St.Thomas leading the pack with seven a piece. Michigan tech comes in at second with four, Minnesota State, Bowling Green, Bemidji State, and Ferris State all have two. Northern Michigan just made the cut with a single NHL draft pick.
Lake Superior has three players drafted in the seventh round, but their highest pick is a 2024 fourth-round pick by the New York Rangers with Raoul Boilard, who’s going into his freshman season after being with the Cape Breton Eagles of the QMJHL. They have two fifth-round picks with St.Louis draft pick Tyson Galloway and Winnipeg Jets draft pick Markus Loponen. Pittsburgh Penguins draft pick Cooper Foster is the only sixth-round pick, and then Boston Bruins draft pick Casper Nassen and Dallas Stars draft pick William Samuelsson are the two seventh-rounders.
St. Thomas has three fifth-rounders, two sixth-rounders, and two seventh-rounders. The fifth round picks are New Jersey Devils pick Chase Cheslock, Seattle Kraken pick Luken Huff, and Minnesota Wild pick Justin Kipkie. For their sixth-round picks, they have a goaltender, Utah Mammoth draft pick Carsen Musser, and Chicago Blackhawks draft pick Ty Henry. The seventh-rounders are Edmonton Oilers pick Bauer Berry and Vegas Golden Knights pick Lucas Van Vliet.
Half of Michigan Tech’s draft picks were taken in the fourth round: both drafted in 2021, there’s Stars draft pick Conner Roulette and Ottawa Senators pick Carson Latimer. On the blueline, they have a sixth-round pick by Minnesota, Kalem Parker, and Philadelphia Flyers seventh-rounder, Austin Moline.
Minnesota State has proven that they don’t need top draft picks to win the conference, and they’re led by Boston College transfer and Mammoth second-round pick Will Skaham, who stands on the blueline at a whopping six-foot-five. Their second pick is St.Cloud transfer and Vancouver Canucks fourth-round pick Daimon Gardner.
Bowling Green has two seventh-rounders starting with Utah Mammoth draft pick Adam Zlinka, who’s heading into his junior year, and they have sophomore Connor Levis, who was a Winnipeg Jets draft pick in 2023.
Bemidji State has incoming freshman Ethan Miedema from the Guelph Storm, who was taken in the fourth round by the Buffalo Sabres. They also have a 2025 seventh-round pick by the Montreal Canadiens, Maxon Vig.
Ferris State brought in a UMass transfer and a 2022 seventh-round pick by the Detroit Red Wings with Owen Mehlenbacher, and they have a Florida Panthers sixth-round pick from 2023 with Luke Coughlin.
Lastly, we head to the conference’s last-place team in the 2025-26 season, Northern Michigan. They also have a St.Cloud transfer, who happens to be a Tampa Bay Lightning draft pick from 2023, Warren Clark. Clark played for the program last season after leaving St. Cloud, where the defenseman had six points in 33 games.
