Thirty-five-year-old Minnesota Wild center-right wing Gustav Nyquist and 31-year-old Vegas Golden Knights defenseman Ben Hutton are the only two former University of Maine Black Bears who will be involved in the Stanley Cup playoffs as players.
Two other former Black Bear players, Jim Montgomery and Jack Capuano, are coaching in the playoffs as Montgomery is the head coach of the St. Louis Blues and Capuano is an assistant with the Wild.
Dave Alexander, a former UMaine assistant, is the goaltending coach for the Blues.
The Blues open their best-of-seven series in Winnipeg on Saturday at 6 p.m. while the Wild and the Golden Knights begin their series in Las Vegas on Sunday at 10 p.m.
Nyquist, a former Hobey Baker Award finalist and All-American at UMaine, began the season with Nashville but was traded to Minnesota for a second-round draft pick on March 1.
Between Nashville and Minnesota, he had 11 goals and 17 assists in 79 games.
He had nine goals and 12 assists in 57 games for the Nashville Predators and 2 & 5 in 22 games for the Wild although he did have a goal and an assist in his last three contests.
Nyquist, who had his best season as a pro in Nashville last season with 23 goals and 52 assists in 81 games, has played 863 regular season games in the NHL with 209 goals and 322 assists.
He has six goals and 24 assists in 77 playoff games.
Nyquist was drafted by Detroit in 2008 and played with the Red Wings for eight seasons. After a short stint in San Jose, he played three seasons for the Columbus Blue Jackets.
He was traded to the Wild by Columbus on Feb. 29, 2023 and notched five assists in six playoff games after having a goal and four assists in three regular season contests.
He then signed a two-year contract with Nashville on July 1, 2023.
Hutton appeared in just 11 games for the Golden Knights this season after being sidelined by an injury early in the year. He’s been a healthy scratch for most of the second half of the season.
Hutton did play in their last five games and had his first two points of the season, both assists, in Wednesday’s regular season finale, a 4-1 win over Vancouver.
Hutton was on Vegas’ Stanley Cup champion team in 2022-23.
Hutton has played in 520 NHL regular season games and has 24 goals and 100 assists. He has appeared in three playoff games without registering a point.
He was a former All-American at UMaine and still owns the school single-season record for goals by a defenseman with 15 set in 2013-14.
