The ECAC keeps bringing in talent, and with a ton of NHL draft picks in the conference last season, which teams are leading in terms of drafted players, and will it make a difference come spring?
The ECAC has never dominated the NHL draft boards, but the conference has started to see way more draft picks over the years. That said, three teams dominate the recruitment trail, and with 26 total NHL draft picks, which teams are leading, and is the gap that large?
Quinnipiac leads the pack with 11 drafted players; Harvard comes in close with 10; Cornell has eight, Dartmouth has three, Clarkson has two, St.Lawrence has one, and Colgate also has one.
Quinnipiac is led by Calgary Flames fifth-round pick Ethan Wyttenbach, who led the country in goals last season. They also have Parker Alcos (VAN), Jan Golicic (TBL), Elliott Groenewold (BOS), Charlie Leddy (NJD), Andrew Strathmann (CBJ), Graham Sward (NSH), Alex Kostov (LAK), Matthew Lansing (VAN), Chris Pelosi (BOS), and goaltender Christian Kirsch (SJS).
Harvard doesn’t have a Hobey Baker finalist like Quinnipiac, but they still have the second most draft picks. Alex Huang (NSH), Sean Keohane (BUF), Matthew Morden (ARI), Michael Callow (ANA), Richard Gallant (SJS), Justin Graf (NSH), Aidan Lane (CGY), Ben MacDonald (SEA), Heikki Ruohonen (PHI), and goalie Rudy Guidmond (DET).
The number takes a large dip as we head to Dartmouth with three players. Defenseman Cooper Cleaves was taken in the third round of the 2026 draft by the Montreal Canadiens after playing his freshman season at Dartmouth; Grayden Robertson-Palmer was taken by the Detroit Red Wings in the seventh round of the 2025 draft and is joining the program fresh out of the QMJHL with the Moncton Wildcats; and goalie Emmett Croteau, sixth round pick by the Montreal Canadiens in 2022 will be suiting up as the teams starter.
Clarkson’s two players start with Alex Pharand from the Sudbury Wolves, who was drafted by the Chicago Blackhawks in the fourth round of the 2023 draft and will be a freshman next season. They also have a goalie, freshman Ben Gaudreau, who was drafted by the San Jose Sharks in the third round of the 2021 draft and is coming off a full pro season in the ECHL for Trois-Rivieres Lions.
St.Lawrence barely makes the cut with junior James Fisher, a transfer from Northeastern and a 2022 seventh-round pick by the Columbus Blue Jackets. Fisher is heading into his junior season, and his first with St.Lawrence.
Last but not least, it’s Colgate who also has just one player. They have a goaltender, Reid Dyck. He was drafted in the sixth round by the Boston Bruins in 2022 and played 29 games last season.
