Family affair: Hockey was preordained For new Sun Devils center Cullen Potter

His mom is a 14-time medalist on the international stage with the US Women’s National Team. His dad has been a coach for three decades. He was born in Minnesota, the self-proclaimed, but appropriately named state of hockey.

Cullen Potter’s hockey path feels so preordained that you might say he emerged from the womb with skates on his feet.

You’d almost be right.

“He started skating at age 1,” said his mom, Jenny Potter, who helped lead the US to the first gold medal ever awarded for Olympic women’s hockey at the 1998 Games in Nagano, Japan, and holds the US Olympic women’s hockey records for most points in a career (32) and a single Olympics (11).

“You know those Timberland boots? My dad took that boot and just made little skates for Cullen,” Jenny Potter continued. “He’d walk around the house with them on so he would get used to what it felt like and then when you got him out on the ice he loved it. When it was winter, no matter how cold it was, it was hard to pull him inside. He just wouldn’t come inside so I was like, ‘Nope, you’re coming inside because you’re gonna get frostbite and you’re not gonna like that.'”

Despite Potter’s traditional hockey beginnings, his path has been anything but typical for the past four seasons. He left Minnesota’s Triple-A ranks to play for the Green Bay Junior Gamblers because it was the best junior program within reach of his hometown of Minneapolis.

When the Wisconsin Amateur Hockey Association chose not to renew the Gamblers’ charter for Tier I status, he left to play for the Dallas Stars Elite team. The following year at age 16, he made his way to where many of the top American players end up: the United States National Team Development Program in Plymouth, Michigan, where had 17 goals and 46 points on the U17 team, and nine goals and 22 points in 35 games in the USHL. 

The NTDP wanted him back for another year of development, and Michigan State — where Potter had originally committed — wanted him to do the same. The Spartans, under former NTDP coach Adam Nightingale, didn’t have a roster spot available for Potter in 2024-25, so he de-committed from MSU and committed to play at Arizona State.

Potter arrived on campus at the end of June and said Sun Devils Director of Sports Performance Liane Blyn is “already putting us through the blender.”

Numerous mock drafts project Potter as a first-round pick for the 2025 NHL Draft. Some questioned his decision to leave the NTDP’s development model in his draft year. Others questioned his decision to leave Michigan State’s storied program and coach for an isolated upstart in the desert Southwest, but Potter wanted to challenge himself against better, more mature players. He didn’t want to wait another year.

“They just joined a really good conference [the NCHC) and it’s really physical hockey,” he said. “I think it’s probably one of the conferences that can relate most to the NHL in terms of how they play. I think it’s definitely helpful for my path, and also for the other guys on the team, to just get ready for the next level.”

Sun Devils coach Greg Powers first met Potter at a tournament at the Ice Den Scottsdale while Potter was playing for Dallas. Potter later got a tour with his team of brand new Mullett Arena.

“We recruited him really hard the first time and had some really good conversations,” Powers said. “I always felt like he really liked us. We obviously didn’t get him that time around, but it was a good recruiting process and experience for both sides.

“I feel very comfortable saying that if Michigan State would have had room for him, he would have gone there. That was what he wanted to do, but when he made his plans clear to them, it became clear that we were going to have a really good seat at the table to try and get this kid.”

So Powers hopped on a plane with ASU assistant coaches Dana Borges and Albie O’Connell (now the head North American scout for the Montréal Canadiens) and flew out to make a presentation to Potter.

The sales pitch was polished, but Powers had Potter at: You’re going to play a lot.

“I think the fact that he’s our only freshman forward was really attractive to him,” Powers said. “Next year, we’re going to have three or four really high-end freshman forwards come in. It’s harder for a coach to spread that ice time across three or four younger guys, but when you have one — even though he’s going to do some great things for us, he’s going to make mistakes so you can insulate his inexperience with so much experience around him like we have.”

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The thing that jumps off the ice when you watch Potter is his speed. The Athletic’s prospect analyst Corey Portman calls Potter the best skater in his age group although there are concerns about his height (listed at 5-9). Others such as FloHockey’s wonder if Potter is ready for such a leap at age 17.

“There have been two guys who left the NTDP early for school — Zach Werenski and Noah Hanifin — and they were physically developed,” Peters said. “I think this is the only way ASU gets a player of this caliber, but they’re not getting a ready-made contributor. I think the NCHC will eat him up.

“The risk makes total sense from ASU’s standpoint. He’s a big-time player for sure. I’m just wondering if this is a shortcut with bad ramifications for all parties. The kid is taking a huge gamble in his draft year.”

On the flip side, Potter’s 0.85 points per game ranks 40th all-time in NTDP U17 seasons. The vast majority of players ahead of him became NHL players.

“That’s actually a good list to be 40th on,” Peters said, laughing.

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The Potters understand that the physical challenge will be great when Cullen competes against players as old as 24 or 25 in the NCAA, but he has spent a literal lifetime training with his parents for moments like this.

“Everybody has doubts because you don’t really know what the landscape is gonna look like yet,” Jenny Potter said. “But Cullen definitely has the skill set and he definitely has the brain. He’s just got to be smart.

“He always figures out a way to come out with the puck and get open but not get in the way where he’s gonna get run over. I think it’s a really exciting time for Cullen because I think he’s gonna really show what kind of player he is. I don’t know if anyone besides a handful of people have really seen the brilliance that he can bring. He needs players that are at the next level to be able to do that.”

Potter can’t wait to get started.

“I hope to bring some flash and some speed,” he said, grinning. “I’m a pretty offensive player, but I’m a two-way player as well because I play center so I’ve got to be. I think I’ll be fun to watch, and the team this year should be really fun to watch, too.

“Coach Powers told me I have to earn my spots so nothing’s given to me. I don’t know a certain role that I’m going to be playing. I can hope and wish for things but what I really have to do is work and make myself ready for those opportunities.”

Top photo via Getty Images: USA’s Jenny Potter shows her silver medal to her son Cullen at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

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