Michigan State Edges Michigan for the Big Ten's Top Hockey Recruiting Class

The college hockey season is still brutally far away, but the excitement continues to build with every passing day.

Especially in the Great Lakes State, where rivals Michigan State and the University of Michigan are neck and neck for this year's top recruiting class. The Spartans currently hold a slight advantage, but the bell hasn't rung yet, and more recruits are sure to commit before the season gets underway.

As of July 1, the Spartans lead all Big Ten programs with four 5-star recruits. Right behind them is Michigan with three, while Minnesota and Notre Dame each have one.

Michigan State has the second-fewest 4-star recruits with just two. Penn State leads the conference with seven, followed by Ohio State with five, Wisconsin and Minnesota with four each, Michigan with three, and Notre Dame with one.

When it comes to 3-star recruits, Ohio State and Michigan each have two. Michigan State, Notre Dame, Wisconsin, and Minnesota each have one, while Penn State has none.

Despite not leading every recruiting category, Michigan State sits atop the Big Ten with 1,632 recruiting points. Michigan, which won the Big Ten Tournament but narrowly lost the Big Ten regular-season title to Michigan State, ranks second with 1,589 points. Penn State's abundance of 4-star recruits has the Nittany Lions sitting third with 1,225 points. Minnesota ranks fourth as the final Big Ten team with more than 1,000 recruiting points at 1,141. Ohio State (910), Wisconsin (651), and Notre Dame (601) round out the conference.

The Spartans' most notable recruits are two first-round selections from the 2026 NHL Draft, Jack Hextall and Ethan Belchetz. Michigan's headliners are Landon DuPont and fellow first-round pick JP Hurlbert, who was selected by Steve Yzerman and the Detroit Red Wings after they traded up to take him 24th overall.

That was Michigan's lone first-round draft pick, compared to the Spartans, who had a record-tying five players selected in the first round, plus a sixth player taken with the first pick of the second round.

Prospects are starting to take notice of just how strong the pipeline has become in East Lansing. Not only did they watch a massive number of future Spartans hear their names called early and often in the NHL Draft, but they also saw the way Porter Martone took the league by storm last season, helping push the Philadelphia Flyers into the playoffs.

This year, NHL fans are expected to see another Spartan make the jump as Trey Augustine appears poised to reach the league. The Red Wings traded former first-round pick Sebastian Cossa, clearing the path for Augustine to step into the backup goaltender role in Detroit.

The Spartans are quickly becoming one of the nation's premier destinations for elite hockey prospects, but the Wolverines in Ann Arbor are doing everything they can to keep pace as both programs battle for Big Ten supremacy.

This season is shaping up to be one of the best college hockey seasons the Big Ten has ever seen, and if the recruiting rankings are any indication, it could once again come down to Michigan State and Michigan battling for the conference crown.