NHL: Selected by the Colorado Avalanche in Round 2 (61st Overall) of the 2021 NHL Draft ... Signed a three-year, entry-level contract with Colorado on April 19.
Honors and Awards: 2x NCAA National Champion (2022, 2024) … 2024 NCAA Frozen Four All-Tournament Team … 2022 NCAA West Regional All-Tournament Team … NCHC Defensive Defenseman of the Year (2023-24) … 2x All-NCHC Honorable Mention (2022-23, 2023-24) … NCHC All-Rookie Team (2021-22) … NCHC Academic All-Conference Team (2021-22) ... 6x NCHC Defenseman of the Week (Oct. 18, 2021; Jan. 17, 2022; Jan. 31, 2022; Jan. 16, 2023; Feb. 13, 2023; Feb. 19, 2024) … 2023 NCHC Preseason All-Conference Team … DU’s Keith Magnuson Best Defensive Player Award (2023-24)
2023-24: Recorded career highs with four goals and 27 assists for 31 points while appearing in all 44 games … Ranked third among Denver defensemen in both assists and points … Named the NCHC Defensive Defenseman of the Year and paced the Pioneers with 70 blocked shots—the most by a DU player since Will Butcher had 82 and Adam Plant had 80 in 2016-17 … Placed second on the team with 53 penalty minutes and finished the year with a +25 plus/minus rating … Recorded five multi-assist games and seven multi-point outings … Blocked four or more shots in a game seven times and had a career-high five blocks in the NCAA Championship Game vs. Boston College on April 13 … Tied for the longest assist streak of the season by a DU player with a career-high seven-game run from Oct. 8-Nov. 4 (0g/10a), one shy of matching his personal-best point run of eight games from 2021-22 … Began that stretch by tying a career high with three assists/points on Oct. 8 at Alaska Fairbanks … Recorded his 50th career assist on Oct. 27 vs. Augustana … Registered a team-season high and career-high 17 penalty minutes on Jan. 27 at North Dakota … Contributed a pair of assists and recorded a personal-best seven shots in his 100th career game on Feb. 24, 2024 vs. Miami … Tallied the first two game-winning goals of his career during the campaign, scoring his first deciding marker and recording a +4 plus/minus rating on March 2 at St. Cloud State … Also scored the game-winner and added a helper and a +3 plus/minus rating in Game 2 of the NCHC Quarterfinals on March 16 vs. Minnesota Duluth … Named to the NCAA Frozen Four All-Tournament Team after registering an assist in each contest, including on the overtime-winning goal vs. Boston University in the national semifinals on April 11 … Attended the Colorado Avalanche’s summer development camp in July 2023 and signed a three-year, entry-level contract with the Avalanche after the season on April 19 … Made his professional hockey debut with the AHL Colorado Eagles and recorded his first point with an assist on April 20 vs. Ontario while on an amateur tryout … Also played one AHL Calder Cup Playoff game with the Eagles … Finished his collegiate career with 112 games played and 81 points (10g/71a) … Ranked 11th all-time in assists by DU defensemen with 71 in his career.
2022-23: Recorded 21 points (3g/18a) while playing 31 games … Tied for fifth overall and second among DU defensemen with 18 assists … Ranked second on the team with 55 blocked shots … Had an +11 plus/minus rating and 29 penalty minutes during the year … Suited up in his 50th career game on Dec. 2 vs. Arizona State … Tied a career high with a season-best three points (1g/2a) on Dec. 3 vs. ASU … Did not play in the Dec. 16-17 series vs. Lindenwood and Jan. 6 vs. Alaska Fairbanks while with the United States’ national junior team training camp and 2023 IIHF World Junior Championship … Posted his third of four multi-assist games of the season in his return from the U20 tournament on Jan. 7 vs. UAF (0g/2a) … Went on a season-long, four-game point streak from Jan. 7-20 (1g/5a) … Tied a team-season high with a +4 plus/minus rating on Jan. 13 vs. Miami … Fired a personal season-high five shots the next day on Jan. 14 vs. Miami … Picked up his 50th career point with an assist on Feb. 24 at Western Michigan … Missed four games from March 3-11 due to injury before returning to the lineup on March 17 vs. Colorado College in the NCHC Frozen Faceoff Semifinals … Won a bronze medal with the United States in December and January at the 2023 IIHF World Junior Championship in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, Canada, recording three points (1g/2a) in seven games … Attended Colorado Avalanche NHL Development Camp in July 2022 … Took part in USA Hockey’s National Junior Evaluation Camp in July and August in Plymouth, Michigan ... Represented Team USA at the 2022
IIHF World Junior Championship in August 2022, appearing in one game due to injury.
2021-22: Tied for second on the team and first among defensemen with 26 assists, helping the Pioneers win the NCAA Championship … Finished second on defense and ninth on the squad with 29 points (3g/26a) … Tied for the NCAA lead for assists by a freshman (Ryan Ufko, D, UMass) and ranked tied for fourth among freshmen defensemen in the country in points … Scored three goals while playing 37-of-41 games … Was second on DU in power-play scoring with 18 points (2g/16a), with only NCAA-leading scorer Bobby Brink having more (20) … Placed first on the team in blocked shots (45) … Had two short-handed assists and tied for second on the squad with two short-handed points … Named the NCHC Defenseman of the Week three times as a freshman … Made his NCAA debut and recorded his first career point with an assist in the season opener on Oct. 8 vs. Arizona State … Began his collegiate career on a five-game point streak (0g/7a) from Oct. 8-22 … Registered his first multi-point game with three assists on Oct. 16 vs. Air Force … Scored his first career goal and added an assist for his third multi-point game of the year on Dec. 4 at Arizona State … Had a career-long eight-game point streak from Jan. 15-Feb. 5 (2g/10a), the longest by a
freshman defenseman in conference history and tied for the longest by any blueliner in NCHC history with Minnesota Duluth's Andy Welinski (2013-14) … Matched his career high with three assists on Feb. 4 vs. St. Cloud State … Named to the All-Tournament Team for the 2022 NCAA West Regional … Had the primary assist on the game-winning goal vs. Minnesota Duluth in the regional final on March 26 … Blocked four shots in the Frozen Four semifinals vs. Michigan on April 7, tied for the most in a game during the season (also blocked four vs. UMD on Feb. 12) … Participated with Team USA at the World Junior Summer Showcase in July 2021 in Plymouth, Michigan … Named to the U.S. National Junior Team training camp roster in December 2021 for the 2022 IIHF World Junior Championship but couldn’t participate due to COVID protocol.
Before Denver: In 2019-20, Behrens scored seven goals and tallied 33 assists in 51 total games with USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program … During the 2020-21 campaign, Behrens tallied 35 points (7g/28a) with the U.S. U-18 team in 46 games, registering 18 of those points (4g/14a) with the U.S. NTDP Juniors in 23 USHL games ... Served as an alternate captain on Team USA’s roster for the 2021 IIHF U18 World Championship, posting four points (1g/3a) in five games ... Won a silver medal with Team USA at the 2019 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge, recording the most points by a D-man (8) and assists (7) overall in the tournament. He was also named to the WHC’s All-Star Team … Prior to his time with the NTDP, Behrens was a five-time state champion with the Chicago Mission.
Personal: Son of Caryn and Kyle … Has an older sister, Lindsay … Favorite NHL player is Jonathan Toews … Favorite TV show is Outer Banks … Favorite food is Chipotle … Also played baseball growing up.
