Did You Know a One-Time High School Dropout Has Most NHL Points Among Former College Players? Puck Drop

Thursday night, Patrick Kane of the Detroit Red Wings became the NHL's all-time leading scorer among U.S.-born players when he notched point No. 1,375 during Detroit's 4-3 home loss to Washington.

The 37-year-old got the record-breaking point on Ben Chiarot' s one-timer (for more to the end of Puck Drop and check out Break Away On SI), to surpass Mike Modano, who had held the record since Nov. 7. 2007, when he moved ahead of defenseman Phil Housley.

However, none of those three players played collegiately. Kane may be recognized as maybe being the top American-developed player who did not take the traditional major junior route, but he played for the U.S. National Team Development Program (USNTDP) before entering the NHL.

He is also not the all-time scorer among Americans, just U.S.-born players, with 500 goals and 874 assists — at least not yet. The top scoring American is Brett Hull, who was born in Belleville, Ontario, and has dual citizenship. His father was Canadien superstar Bobby Hull, but his mother Joanne McKay was an American professional figure skater. She's actually the one who taught him how to skate.

Hull finished his NHL career with 1,391 points, on 741 goals and 650 assists, after playing two seasons at Minnesota Duluth. A big reason why he played for the Bulldogs was that he wasn't considered a top prospect yet. That started to change when he set the British Columbia Junior Hockey League scoring record, and while working on his skating at UMD set numerous scoring records.

However, Hull isn' t the all-scoring leader among former college players, it's instead someone he played alongside for three seasons on the St. Louis Blues, Adam Oates. The Canadian sort of had a similar path to the NHL, only in his case dropped out of high school to focus on hockey and at one point was even working as a gas station attendant. When he went undrafted, Oates returned to school and earned his degree.

It was while scouting another player that an RPI assistant coach saw Oates and subsequently offered a chance to play for the Engineers. Before long he too was breaking records and spent a summer working with a skating instructor en route to becoming the best player in program history.

Over 19 seasons the undrafted center played in 1,337 games, and tallied 341 goals and 1,079 points for 1,420 points. Both members of the Hull and Oates tandem are now in the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Most NHL Points by Former College Players

No.	Name	School	Points
1	Adam Oats	RPI	1,420
2	Brett Hull	Minnesota Duluth	1,391
3	Rod Brind’Amour	Michigan State	1,184
4	Joe Nieuwendyk	Cornell	1,126
5	Glenn Anderson	Denver	1,099
6	Dave Taylor	Clarkson	1,069
7	Joe Pavelski	Wisconsin	1,068
8	Keith Tkachuk	Boston University	1,065
9	Joe Mullen	Boston College	1,063
10 (tie)	Martin St. Louis	Vermont	1,033
10 (tie)	Doug Weight	Lake Superior	1,028

Also of note:

• There's only one other former college player to have reached the 1,000-point milestone in the NHL, former Boston College defenseman Brian Leetch.

• Among former college players who are active in the NHL, Jonathan Toews out of North Dakota has the most points with 902 (379 goals, 523 assists). He, of course, played for year along with Kane with the Chicago Blackhawks. Second on the list is James van Riemsdyk out of New Hampshire with 689 (341 goals, 348 assists).

• The former collegiate goaltender with the most wins among active NFL players is Jonathan Quick out of UMass (400). Second is Connor Hellebuyck from Mass.-Lowell (335), and Cam Talbot out of Alabama-Huntsville (277).

Take a look at the American-born leading scorers over the years! 🇺🇸

Congrats to Patrick Kane on recording NHL point No. 1,375! pic.twitter.com/Hq61v4o4Ao
— NHL (@NHL) January 30, 2026

Puck Drop: Friday, January 30, 2026

• Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti, who sued the NCAA to secure unlimited transfers for collegiate student-athletes now references the unrestricted transfer portal as a “train wreck” and says it is “sucking the life out of college sports,” according to USA Today’s Brent Schrotenboer. Skrmetti: “I think the portal is probably the single biggest problem that needs to be solved.”

• The latest on the Olympic hockey venue from Break Away On SI: The Santagiulia Arena has made significant progress in recent weeks after test events as organizers prepare to host the first Olympic hockey games of the women's tournament in just one week.

• The Dallas Stars’ opponent in the 2027 NHL Stadium Series was finally announced, the Vegas Golden Knights. The game will be played at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, home of the Dallas Cowboys, on Feb. 20.

• Oklahoma Associate Athletic Director for Communications Gavin Lang on the chances of the school adding a varsity hockey program: “What OSU [club] hockey has done in recent years is very impressive, but it’s premature to say that Oklahoma State will be adding ice hockey as a varsity sport.”

• Penn State Creates Savvy Marketing Campaign for Beaver Stadium Hockey Game

• Analyzing Spartans' NCAA Standing Ahead of Penn State Series

Men's College Hockey Thursday Score

AHA
Army 3, Holy Cross 2 (OT)

Women's College Hockey Thursday Score

Hockey East
No. 13 Holy Cross, No. 6 Northeastern 2 (Northeastern wins shootout, 1-0)

Games between ranked opponents are bolded. All times are local to where the game is being played.

Men's College Hockey Friday Schedule

AHA
Niagara at Canisius, 7 p.m. ET
Army at Holy Cross, 7 p.m. ET
RIT at Mercyhurst, 7 p.m. ET
Bentley at Robert Morris, 7 p.m. ET
Sacred Heart at Air Force, 7:05 p.m. MT

Big Ten
No. 2 Michigan State at No. 5 Penn State, 6 p.m. ET
No. 1 Michigan at Ohio State, 6:30 p.m. ET
No. 8 Wisconsin at Minnesota, 7 p.m. CT

CCHA
No. 18 Minnesota State at Ferris State, 7 p.m.ET
Bemidji State at Northern Michigan, 7 p.m. ET
No. 19 Michigan Tech at No. 15 St. Thomas, 7 p.m. CT
Lake Superior at No. 16 Augustana, 7 p.m. CT

ECAC
Colgate at Brown, 7 p.m. ET
Princeton at Clarkson, 7 p.m. ET
Union at No. 14 Dartmouth, 7 p.m. ET
RPI at Harvard, 7 p.m. ET
No. 6 Quinnipiac at St. Lawrence, 7 p.m. ET
No. 10 Cornell at Yale, 7 p.m. ET

Hockey East
No. 13 Boston College at Boston University, NESN 7 p.m. ET
Northeastern at Massachusetts, 7 p.m. ET
New Hampshire at Merrimack, 7 p.m. ET

NCHC
Arizona State at Colorado College, 7 p.m. MT
No. 7 Minnesota Duluth at No. 11 Denver, 7 p.m. MT
Miami at No. 20 St. Cloud State, 7 p.m. CT
Omaha at No. 3 Western Michigan, 7 p.m. ET

Non-Conference
Bowling Green at Notre Dame, 7 p.m. ET
Stonehill at Vermont, 7 p.m. ET
Long Island at Alaska, 7 p.m. AT

Women's College Hockey Friday Schedule

AHA
Robert Morris at No. 4 Penn State, 1 p.m. ET
RIT at Lindenwood, 3 p.m. CT
No. 15 Mercyhurst at Delaware, 6 p.m. ET

ECAC
No. 5 Quinnipiac at No. 11 Clarkson, 3 p.m. ET
No. 8 Princeton at St. Lawrence, 3 p.m. ET
Harvard at Colgate, 6 p.m. ET
Dartmouth at No. 12 Cornell, 6 p.m. ET
No. 10 Yale at Rensselaer, 6 p.m. ET
Brown at Union, 6 p.m. ET

Hockey East
Boston University at Merrimack, 2 p.m. ET
Providence at Vermont, 2 p.m. ET
No. 7 UConn at New Hampshire, 6 p.m. ET
Maine at Boston College, 6 p.m. ET

NEWHA
Long Island at Franklin Pierce, 3 p.m. ET
Stonehill at Assumption, 4 p.m. ET
Post at Saint Anselm, 7:15 p.m. ET
Sacred Heart at Saint Michael's, 7:20 p.m. ET

WCHA
St. Cloud State at St. Thomas, 2 p.m. CT
No. 1 Wisconsin at No. 3 Minnesota, 6 p.m. CT
No. 14 Minnesota State at Bemidji State, 6 p.m. CT
No. 9 Minnesota Duluth at No. 2 Ohio State, 6 p.m. ET

Hockey Quote of the Day

"In the years I played against him, he was an intimidator. You went into his
crease, and he'd hack your ankles hard enough to sit you down for a week. Playing with him, you still don't want to get too close. The day before a game and on game day, he gets this look and his body language says, ‘Leave me alone.’ So you leave him
alone."
Brian Skrudland on Ed Belfour

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We'll Leave You With This ...

THIS ONE COUNTS ✅

PATRICK KANE HAS PASSED MIKE MODANO FOR MOST POINTS BY AN AMERICAN-BORN PLAYER! pic.twitter.com/UAeTo6lLUg
— NHL (@NHL) January 30, 2026