DENVER – Forward Jack Devine of the University of Denver hockey team has signed a three-year, entry-level contract beginning in 2025-26 with the Florida Panthers, the NHL squad announced on Saturday. Devine will report to Florida's American Hockey League affiliate, the Charlotte Checkers, on a professional tryout for the remainder of the 2024-25 campaign.
 
Devine, 21, was a top-10 finalist for the Hobey Baker Award for the second straight season and led the nation in in 2024-25 with 57 points and 44 assists while playing in all 44 games. He is just the third Pioneer to finish first in the country in scoring, joining Bobby Brink in 2021-22 (57) and Ed Beers in 1981-82 (84). Devine was also named a First Team All-American for the second straight season, becoming one of 14 repeat All-Americans in Denver's history and joined teammate Zeev Buium as the school's first repeat first-team members since Henrik Borgstrom in 2017 and 2018.
           
He scored 13 goals during his senior campaign, including tallying 11 times since the New Year. On the power play, Devine registered five markers and led the team with 27 power-play points (5g/22a).
 
The Glencoe, Illinois, native is the first Pioneer to record back-to-back 50-point seasons since Daryn McBride in 1987-88 (58) and 1988-89 (51), and he owns two of just four 50-point campaigns by DU players since 2012. Devine, who also finished with the NCHC scoring title with 32 points, registered at least a point in 34-of-44 contests this year and multiple points in 16 outings
 
Named to the NCHC All-Conference First Team, Devine produced two career-long point streaks of eight games, doing so to start the season from Oct. 5-Nov. 2 (1g/15a) and again from Nov. 9-Dec. 13 (1g/10a). He began the season with a career-high four assists on Oct. 14 at Alaska Anchorage and recorded multiple points in five of the first six contests from Oct. 19-26 (1g/6a). He owned five games this season with three or more points, as he also achieved the performance on Oct. 26 against Wisconsin (1g/2a), Nov. 14 at North Dakota (0g/3a), Feb. 8 at Arizona State (0g/3a) and March 16 versus Colorado College (0g/3a).
 
Devine was twice named the NCHC Player of the Month, earning the accolade in both October and February. He led all NCAA players with 14 points (1g/13a) in October to also earn National Player of the Month accolades. The right wing had points in seven of the eight games in February (5g/9a) and recorded multiple points in six of the outings to be the first DU player to earn NCHC top players honors in multiple months in a single season since defenseman Mike Benning (December 2022, February 2023).
 
A finalist for the NCHC Forward of the Year award for the second-straight year, Devine appeared in his 150th career game on Feb. 22 at Miami and registered two assists in the contest to reach 150 career points—the 22nd Pioneer to reach the 150-point milestone and first since Rhett Rakhshani in 2010 (he is one of 12 players with 100 assists). He is the highest-scoring player in the modern era of Denver hockey and finishes his career ranked 12th on the all-time scoring list with 163 points (57g/106a), the most since Rick Berens had 180 points (94g/86a) from 1987-1991.
 
Devine is one of 10 players in the program record book to tally 50 goals, 100 assists and 150 points in their career and was the first to join the 50-100-150 club since Dave Shields from 1986-1990 (71g/108a). He recorded his 100th career assist on March 8 at Colorado College, the 12th Pioneer and the first since Shields to reach the century mark in helpers. Overall, Devine suited up in 162 career games, tied for the eighth-most in school history.
 
He recorded his first of two 50-point campaigns as a junior when he produced a career-high 27 goals and added 29 assists for 57 points. He ranked fourth among all players in the nation in goals and ranked seventh in points in the NCAA.
 
In addition to leading the team in goals and points, he paced the Pioneers with 142 shots, nine power-play goals and 16 power-play points, while also ranking third on the squad with a .190 shooting percentage and fourth with three game-winning goals. He also added 20 penalty minutes and a plus-29 rating and played in all 44 games to help Denver capture its NCAA-record 10th national championship and his second in three years.
 
The right wing was the first player in the country to reach the 20-goal threshold in 2023-24, as he accomplished the feat in the just 23 games to become the quickest Pioneer in recent history to hit the mark. Devine had nine multi-goal and 18 multi-point outings during the year, and he finished the campaign with the most goals by a Pioneer since Ryan Dingle also had 27 markers in 2005-06.
 
He began the season with multiple points in each of the first five games from Oct 7-27, 2023 (6g/7a) for the longest multi-point stretch by a Denver skater since former teammate Massimo Rizzo also had a five-game run from Oct. 21-Nov. 4, 2022 (4g/9a). Devine registered a career-high five points with two goals and three assists on Jan. 19, 2024 at Omaha to become the first Pioneer with a five-point performance since Bobby Brink on Feb. 4, 2022 against St. Cloud State (1g/4a). Four of Devine's five points came in the second period, which also marked the most in a single frame this year
 
The forward scored the quickest game-opening goal of the season by a Pioneer after tallying just 16 seconds into the contest against Colorado College on March 8. That marker also served as his 100th career point, becoming the 103rd Denver player to reach the century mark and accomplishing the feat in 109 games.
 
As a sophomore in 2022-23, he finished third on Denver in goals (14) and sixth in points (31), while playing in 38-of-40 contests. He recorded his first career game-winning marker by tallying the overtime-winner on Oct. 22, 2022 vs. Providence to cap Denver's 2022 NCAA Championship banner-raising night. He had four points (1g/3a) on Feb. 17, 2023 vs. Minnesota Duluth to cap a seven-point weekend against the Bulldogs (3g/4a) to earn his first NCHC Forward of the Week award.
 
Devine tallied a career-high four goals for his first hat trick and matched a then-personal best in points (four) in Game 1 of the NCHC Quarterfinals vs. Miami on March 10, 2023. Three of the markers came consecutively for Denver's second natural hat trick of the season and matched the team's season high for goals in a game.
 
The U.S. National Team Development Program product was the second-youngest player in college hockey as a freshman, turning 18 years old one week prior to the start of the 2021-22 season. Devine skated in 36-of-41 games that year and registered three goals, 16 assists and 19 points to help the Pioneers win the 2022 NCAA title. He picked up his first career point with an assist in the season opener and his collegiate debut on Oct. 8, 2023 versus Arizona State and added two assists the next night for his first career multi-point outing. Devine also scored his first goal as a Pioneer against the Sun Devils by tallying and adding a helper for another two-point performance on Dec. 3, 2022 in Tempe, Arizona.
 
Overall, Devine was named NCHC Forward of the Week three times and earned two Rookie of the Week honors from the conference during his time on the DU hilltop. In the classroom, he was named to the NCHC Academic All-Conference Team and an NCHC Distinguished Scholar-Athlete in each of his four seasons.
 
Devine was part of the winningest senior class in Denver hockey history that won 124 games, two Penrose Cups as NCHC regular-season champions, the 2024 NCHC Frozen Faceoff Championship, four gold pan trophies over rival Colorado College, reached three NCAA Frozen Fours and earned national championships in 2022 and 2024.
 
Selected by the Florida Panthers in the seventh round at No. 221 overall in the 2022 NHL Draft, Devine participated in the team's prospect development camps in each of the previous three summers after being drafted following his freshman season.