Eight Players with Ties to #WildFamily Named to NHL Opening Day Rosters
WENATCHEE, Wash. – With the start of the National Hockey League season this week, initial rosters across the NHL include players with ties to the organization, including a veteran forward associated with the very beginnings of junior hockey in the Wenatchee Valley.
The Wild are excited to announce that eight players on Opening Day rosters have ties to the club, including seven who were part of the WHL organization dating back to its time as the Kootenay ICE. Three former Kootenay players remain active in the NHL, as Sam Reinhart returns to the Florida Panthers after leading them to the club’s first Stanley Cup championship last season. Reinhart set new career highs last season with 94 points, including 57 goals, which ranked second in the NHL. Reinhart picked up right where he left off on Tuesday, with a goal and an assist in Florida’s 6-4 win over the Boston Bruins.
Brayden McNabb played in all 82 games last season for the Vegas Golden Knights, and returns to the organization after posting a new career high last year with 26 points. He posted an assist in Vegas’s 8-4 win over the Colorado Avalanche Wednesday evening. Peyton Krebs played for the Kootenay and Winnipeg ICE, and is back in the NHL this season with Buffalo, beginning his fourth season with the Sabres organization. He notched 17 points a year ago for Buffalo over a career-best 80 games.
Two players with ties to last season’s Wild roster also earned spots on Opening Day rosters – Zach Benson joined the Wild for the 2023-24 preseason before earning a spot on the Buffalo Sabres’ roster and will return to the club for his second season this year. Benson played 71 games during his rookie season in the NHL, tallying 30 points for the Sabres. Conor Geekie started the 2023-24 season with the Wild, and was named to Tampa Bay’s roster to start the 2024-25 NHL season. Both starred for the Winnipeg ICE and joined the club in its relocation to Wenatchee last summer.
Two former Winnipeg ICE forwards, Jack Finley (Tampa Bay) and Michael Milne (Minnesota), opened the season on their respective NHL teams’ injured lists – Finley and Milne spent their 2023-24 seasons with their clubs’ American Hockey League affiliates.
One player who began his junior career in Wenatchee – and helped the Wild organization get off the ground in 2008 – also earned an Opening Day roster spot. Nic Dowd played for the Wild in 2008-09 as part of its Junior A era, and is starting his ninth full season of NHL competition. Seven of those nine seasons have been spent with the Washington Capitals, where he posted 12 goals and 10 assists a year ago.
The Wenatchee Wild congratulate all eight players on beginning the 2024-25 season with National Hockey League clubs, and wish them continued success as the season gets underway. Wild fans are encouraged to follow the progress of all alumni of the WHL organization and former Wild Junior A players throughout the season, with the club’s regular “Alumn-ICE Report” features on its website at WenatcheeWildHockey.com.
