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Three players from Denver’s 2022-23 hockey team have signed professional contracts, including sophomore Carter Mazur, who signed with his hometown Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday.

Here is a running list of Pioneers signing with the pros:

Updated April 17

Defenseman Mike Benning signs three-year contract with Florida Panthers

Mike Benning, one of three second-team All-Americans for the Pioneers in 2022-23, will take his elite skating and offensive skills to pro hockey, signing a three-year, entry-level contract with the Florida Panthers. The Panthers picked Benning in the fourth round (95th overall) in 2020. Benning is the sixth DU player to sign an NHL or AHL contract this season.

Benning scored 72 points, including 28 goals, the past two seasons. He finished with 83 points and 31 goals (eighth among defensemen in DU history). He led Pioneers defensemen in scoring each of the past two seasons, and his 34 points tied for fifth nationally among blue liners in 2022-23.

Benning, who was a nominee for the Hobey Baker Award, elevated the defensive side of his game last season. The Hockey News ranked him as Florida’s No. 4 prospect and its highest-ranked defense prospect.

His father Brian played the final two of his 13 NHL seasons with the Panthers.

Updated April 11

Goalie Magnus Chrona signs two-year deal with San Jose Sharks

Denver goaltender Magnus Chrona. Photo courtesy of Clarkson Creative via Denver Athletics

Magnus Chrona, one of the most decorated and accomplished goaltenders in Denver Pioneers history, signed a two-year, entry-level contract with the San Jose Sharks. The deal with the Sharks, who obtained his rights in a trade with the Tampa Bay Lightning two years ago, begins next season.

In addition to helping DU win the 2022 NCAA title, Chrona was selected the NCHC’s top goaltender after this past season. He had a 22-9-0 record with a .916 save percentage and a 2.19 goals-against average. The wins and save percentage were the second best of his career, trailing only the 2021-22 seasons’s 28 wins and his .920 from his freshman season.

He ensconsed himself near the top of several categories on the program’s all-time lists as well, which is all the more impressive when one considers he only played 18 games in 2020-21 due to a pandemic-adjusted schedule of 24 games.

• Wins – 73 (fourth)
• Shuouts – 13 (second)
• Games played – 114 (fourth)
• Goals-against average – 2.20 (T-sixth)
• Save percentage – .914 (10th)

When Chrona got hot, he was really hot. Just ask Colorado College, which could not dent him over a stretch of nearly six whole games from February 2021 to February of this season. Three times he had shutout streaks lasting longer than 120 minutes, making him one of only two Pioneers ever to accomplish that (Wade Dublielewicz is the other).

He also was a four-time NCHC Distinguished Scholar-Athlete.

The native of Sweden was the subject of one of our One-Timers Q&A’s early last season.

Updated April 4

Grad transfer F Casey Dornbach signs with Iowa of AHL

Denver forward Casey Dornbach. Photo courtesy of Justin Tafoya/Clarkson Creative via Denver Athletics

Casey Dornbach, a skilled, versatile forward who joined DU as a grad transfer, signed an American Hockey League contract with the Iowa Wild for the 2023-24 season. He joined the Minnesota Wild’s top affiliate for the rest of this season on an amateur tryout.

Dornbach, who was a plug-and-play option for coach David Carle on any of the top three lines, had 34 points, including a career-high 13 goals, in 40 games. He arrived at Denver after spending four seasons at Harvard, where he captained the Crimson as a senior and had 90 points in 98 games.

The Minnesota native was the subject of one of our One-timers Q&As this season.

Updated March 28

F Carter Mazur signs with Red Wings after two seasons at DU

Denver winger Carter Mazur. Photo courtesy of Justin Tafoya/Clarkson Creative via Denver Athletics

Mazur, who once had a locker at the Detroit Red Wings’ arena during his youth hockey days with the Little Caesars AAA program, will have an opportunity to make the team he grew up cheering for in Michigan next season.

Mazur, who led DU with 22 goals this season, signed a three-year entry-level contract with the Red Wings that will begin next season. He will play for their American Hockey League affiliate in Grand Rapids, Mich., on an amateur tryout agreement (ATO) for the rest of this season.

The forward, who had 75 points, including 36 goals, in two seasons with the Pioneers, was a third-round selection by Detroit in the 2021 NHL Entry Draft. He was ranked as one of the Wings’ top-10 prospects by The Hockey News.

Mazur, one of DU’s assistant captains, made the NCHC’s all-rookie team last season and was a second-team all-league pick this season. His 37 points were second on the Pioneers to fellow sophomore Massimo Rizzo. Mazur is the second Pioneer in two seasons and third in four years to sign after his sophomore season, joining Carter Savoie last year and Emilio Petterson in 2020.

D Kyle Mayhew signs with Colorado Eagles

Denver defenseman Kyle Mayhew. Photo courtesy of Shannon Valerio

Graduate defenseman Kyle Mayhew parlayed a strong finish to his Denver career into an AHL contract with the Colorado Eagles that begins next season. Mayhew will play for the Eagles on an ATO for the rest of this season.

Mayhew, an assistant captain for the Pioneers, had a career-high 13 points this season, capped by a four-assist night in his final home game at Magness Arena on March 11. An elite skater, Mayhew was a first-call penalty killer and one of DU’s better defenders.

He earned NCHC academic honors every season and will graduate with a masters degree in June.

Mayhew was the subject of a One-Timers Q&A interview two seasons ago.

D Justin Lee signs AHL deal with WBS Penguins

Denver captain Justin Lee. Photo courtesy of Shannon Valerio via Denver Athletics

Denver captain Justin Lee signed an AHL deal with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. He, too, will play the rest of the season on an ATO

Lee had 13 points, including a career-high six goals, this past season, when he was selected the NCHC’s Defensive Defenseman of the Year. He had 16 points during DU’s 2021-22 national championship season.

A tough, well-rounded player, Lee played 133 games for the Pioneers. He attended the Phoenix Coyotes’ prospect camp last summer.

Lee was the subject of one of our more memorable One-Timers Q&A interviews last season.

2021-22 signings

• F Ryan Barrow (grad), Manchester (England)
• F Bobby Brink (junior), Philadelphia (NHL)
• F Jake Durflinger (grad), Iowa (ECHL)
• F Carter Savoie (sophomore), Edmonton (NHL)
• F Cole Guttman (senior), Chicago (NHL)
• D Griffin Mendel (grad), Chicago (AHL)
• F Kohen Olischefski (grad), Rochester (AHL)
• F Brett Stapley (senior), Laval (AHL)
• D Antti Tuomisto (sophomore), TPS (Finland)
• F Cameron Wright (grad), Colorado (AHL)

2020-21 signings

• F Jack Doremus (senior), Tulsa (ECHL)

2019-20 signings

• G Devin Cooley (junior), Nashville (NHL)
• F Liam Finlay (senior), Koovee (Finland)
• F Tyson McLellan (senior), Nurnberg (Germany)
• D Ian Mitchell (junior), Chicago (NHL)
• F Emilio Petterson (sophomore), Calgary (NHL)

2018-19 signings

• G Filip Larsson (freshman), Detroit (NHL)
• F Jared Lukosevicius (senior), Grand Rapids (AHL)

2017-18 signings

• F Henrik Borgstrom (sophomore), Florida (NHL)
• F Dylan Gambrell (junior), San Jose (NHL)
• D Tariq Hammond (senior), Binghamton (AHL)
• D Blake Hillman (junior), Chicago (NHL)
• G Tanner Jaillet (senior), Wolfsburg (Germany)
• F Logan O’Connor (junior), Colorado (NHL)
• D Adam Plant (senior), Laval (AHL)
• F Troy Terry (junior), Anaheim (NHL)

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