Luke Kunin
Luke Kunin (born December 4, 1997) is an American professional ice hockey center 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 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 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 . 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. Early life Kunin was born on December 4, 1997, in Chesterfield, Missouri, to Mark and Sheri Kunin. He began playing minor ice hockey for a youth affiliate of the St. Louis Blues, and was coached by former professional hockey players like Keith Tkachuk, Jeff Brown, Al MacInnis, and Jamie Rivers. He spent one year attending the Whitfield School and playing for the Warriors hockey team before USA Hockey National Team Development Program (NTDP) in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Kunin played in the NTDP for two seasons, and in his second year with the team, he scored 27 goals and 42 points in 61 games. Kunin, Matthew Tkachuk, and Clayton Keller all played together in the 2010 Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament with their St. Louis minor hockey team. Kunin finished high school in only three years so that he could continue his hockey career at the age of 17. When he was in sixth grade, Kunin was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, and in addition to finding ways to manage his condition on the ice, he found an inspiration in professional hockey player and fellow diabetic B. J. Crombeen of the Blues. Kunin also leaned on his older brother Nick, whose own hockey career was cut short by