| Luke Kunin | |||
|---|---|---|---|
.jpg) Kunin with the Minnesota Wild in 2019 | |||
| Born |
December 4, 1997 Chesterfield, Missouri, U.S. | ||
| Height | 6 ft 0 in (183 cm) | ||
| Weight | 197 lb (89 kg; 14 st 1 lb) | ||
| Position | Center | ||
| Shoots | Right | ||
| NHL team Former teams |
San Jose Sharks Minnesota Wild Nashville Predators | ||
| National team |
 United States | ||
| NHL draft |
15th overall, 2016 Minnesota Wild | ||
| Playing career | 2017–present | ||
Luke Kunin (/kʌnɪn/ KUH-nin;[1] born December 4, 1997) is an American professional ice hockey center and alternate captain for the San Jose Sharks of the National Hockey League (NHL). He previously played in the NHL for the Minnesota Wild and Nashville Predators. The Wild selected him in the first round, 15th overall, in the 2016 NHL Entry Draft.
Born in Chesterfield, Missouri, Kunin had a number of NHL players for coaches during his minor ice hockey career, including Keith Tkachuk, whose son Matthew he played alongside as a child. Kunin spent one year at the Whitfield School before joining the USA Hockey National Team Development Program, with whom he played in the World U-17 Hockey Challenge and the IIHF World U18 Championship. He finished high school early to begin playing college ice hockey with the Wisconsin Badgers. There, Kunin became the first sophomore to captain the Badgers in over 40 years, while also captaining the United States team at the IIHF World Junior Championship.
After two years with Wisconsin, Kunin signed a contract with the Wild. He spent the 2017–18 season jumping between Minnesota and the Iowa Wild of the American Hockey League (AHL), in part due to NHL salary cap difficulties, but was supposed to finish out the year in Minnesota if not for an anterior cruciate ligament injury in March 2018. Kunin recovered by the start of the 2018–19 season and spent most of the year in the NHL, only returning to Iowa to help them during the postseason. After spending time on a Minnesota line with Jordan Greenway and Joel Eriksson Ek, Kunin was traded to the Predators prior to the 2020–21 season. After a slow start to the year, he finished on a scoring streak, including a double-overtime victory over the Carolina Hurricanes in the 2021 Stanley Cup playoffs.
- ^ "2023–24 NHL Pronunciation Guide" (PDF). National Hockey League. Archived (PDF) from the original on April 1, 2024. Retrieved May 19, 2024.