Wisconsin hockey: 14 former Badgers make NHL rosters

Headlined by stars Joe Pavelski, Ryan McDonagh and Ryan Suter, a large group of Wisconsin hockey alumni found homes on NHL rosters as final teams were announced Tuesday.

Of the 14 former UW standouts to make opening-day squads, two (McDonagh and Pavelski) are captains and three others (New York Rangers forward Derek Stepan, Minnesota Wild defenseman Suter and Ottawa forward Kyle Turris) were named alternate captains.

Here are the rest:

• Rene Bourque (F) - Colorado
• Brian Elliott (G) - Calgary
• Jake Gardiner (D) - Toronto
• Tom Gilbert (D) - Los Angeles
• Jamie McBain (D) - Arizona
• Jake McCabe (D) - Buffalo
• Brendan Smith (D) - Detroit
• Craig Smith (F) - Nashville
• Justin Schultz (D) - Pittsburgh

Additionally, three more players (Cody Goloubef, John Ramage and Nic Kerdiles) start the year on injured lists and one more, Jack Skille, is expected to sign with the Canucks in the next day or two.

In other Badger news:

Senior defenseman Corbin McGuire was named Big Ten Third Star of the Week on Monday. McGuire scored three goals over the weekend series with Northern Michigan and shares the Big Ten lead in goals with Minnesota’s Brent Gates, Jr.

McGuire converted from forward full-time this year and has now scored five goals in just 11 career games as a defenseman after splitting time at the position in 2015-16.