Ryan Kraft (born November 7, 1975) is an American former professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

Winger who played in the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...

(NHL) with the

San Jose Sharks The San Jose Sharks are a professional ice hockey team based in San Jose, California. The Sharks compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division (NHL), Pacific Division in the Western Conference (NHL), Western Con ...

. He is currently the head coach for the Moorhead Spuds girls hockey team.

Playing career

Kraft played collegiate hockey with the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...

in the

Western Collegiate Hockey Association The Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) is a college ice hockey conference which operates in the Midwestern United States. It participates in the NCAA's Division I as a women's-only conference. From 1951 to 1999, it operated as a me ...

(WCHA) before he was selected in the eighth round, 194th overall, in the 1995 NHL Entry Draft by the

. As a member of the Sharks'

ECHL The ECHL (formerly the East Coast Hockey League) is a minor professional ice hockey league based in Shrewsbury, New Jersey, with teams across the United States and Canada. Competitively, it is a tier below the American Hockey League (AHL). The ...

affiliate, the

Richmond Renegades The Richmond Renegades were a professional ice hockey team in Richmond, Virginia that played in the East Coast Hockey League from 1990 until 2003. The Renegades played at the Richmond Coliseum, which they marketed in later years as ''the Freeze ...

, Kraft was named to the ECHL All-Star Team during the 1998–99 season and the 1999–2000 season. Kraft would finish his rookie season as a point-per-game player, scoring 64 points in 63 games during the regular season. Kraft would also go on to score 20 points in 18 post-season games in that same season. Richmond would go on to lose to eventual Kelly Cup Champion Mississippi in overtime of the seventh and deciding game of the Finals. Kraft had previously played for the

of the

NHL The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...

, scoring one assist in seven games.

Coaching career

On January 29, 2013, it was announced that Kraft would serve as assistant coach of the Minnesota Magicians in the

North American Hockey League The North American Hockey League (NAHL) is one of the top junior hockey leagues in the United States and is in its 50th season of operation in 2024–25. It is the only Tier II junior league sanctioned by USA Hockey, and acts as an alternati ...

. On June 24, 2019 Kraft was named head coach of the Moorhead Minnesota High School girls varsity hockey team.

Personal

Kraft was born in Bottineau,

North Dakota North Dakota ( ) is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the indigenous Dakota people, Dakota and Sioux peoples. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north and by the U.S. states of Minneso ...

and raised and currently resides in

Moorhead, Minnesota Moorhead ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Clay County, Minnesota, Clay County, Minnesota, United States, on the banks of the Red River of the North. Located in the Red River Valley, an extremely fertile and active agricultural region, Moo ...

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

Awards and honors

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kraft, Ryan 1975 births American ice hockey coaches American men's ice hockey left wingers Bridgeport Sound Tigers players 21st-century American sportsmen Cleveland Barons (2001–2006) players Cleveland Lumberjacks players Ice hockey coaches from Minnesota Ice hockey people from North Dakota Kassel Huskies players Kentucky Thoroughblades players Living people Minnesota Golden Gophers men's ice hockey players People from Bottineau County, North Dakota People from Moorhead, Minnesota Richmond Renegades players San Jose Sharks draft picks San Jose Sharks players Ice hockey players from Minnesota 20th-century American sportsmen