Eleven players with Wenatchee Wild ties open NHL season on league rosters

WENATCHEE — Eleven hockey players with ties to the Wenatchee Wild are on National Hockey League opening-night rosters this season, including three who played for the club during its junior A era from 2008 to 2023, the team said.

Eight of the players came through the Western Hockey League franchise that now plays in Wenatchee. The team was known as the Kootenay Ice and later the Winnipeg Ice before relocating in 2023. The NHL regular season begins Monday.

The closest to home is Cale Fleury, a former Kootenay player who will start the season with the Seattle Kraken. He played 23 games last season to reach 100 for his NHL career, according to the Wild.

The other former Kootenay players are Sam Reinhart, starting his sixth season with the Florida Panthers, and Brayden McNabb, starting his 10th season with the Vegas Golden Knights.

Three former Winnipeg players also skated in Wenatchee. Zach Benson made two preseason appearances for the Wild before the 2023-24 season and then joined the Buffalo Sabres. He posted a career-best 43 points last season and signed a seven-year contract, the team said. Conor Geekie returns to the Tampa Bay Lightning after spending most of last season in the American Hockey League, and Matthew Savoie opens the season on the Edmonton Oilers' injured list after playing all 82 games last year.

Peyton Krebs of the Sabres and Zack Ostapchuk of the San Jose Sharks played in Winnipeg but finished their WHL careers before the move to Wenatchee.

Three players date to the Wild's junior A years. Nic Dowd, beginning his 11th NHL season and his first full season with Vegas, played for the Wild in its first North American Hockey League season in 2008 and helped lead the club to the Robertson Cup national championship game the next spring. Goalie Devin Cooley, now with the Calgary Flames, and Harrison Scott of the Dallas Stars played for Wenatchee in the British Columbia Hockey League. Scott begins the season on the Stars' injured list.

The Wild track former players in regular "Alumn-ICE Report" features at wenatcheewildhockey.com.