Three years after being selected in the 7th round of the 2016 NHL Entry Draft, Northeastern’s dynamic defenseman and assistant captain Jeremy Davies has elected to turn pro and signed a 2-year ELC with the New Jersey Devils. Davies practiced with the Devils this morning before putting pen to paper.
Davies went unselected in his original draft year, breaking out for 49 points in the following season for the USHL’s Bloomington Thunder. Being named to the USHL First All-Star team while leading USHL defensemen in scoring turned some heads, leading to his selection by New Jersey the second time through the draft as he prepared to enroll at Northeastern. Davies made an impact for the Huskies from Day 1, playing in all 38 games his freshman year and scoring 8 goals and piling up 23 points from the blue line to lead all Hockey East freshman defensemen in scoring.
Davies broke out alongside the Big Three in his sophomore season, adding 6 more goals and tallying 35 points in a near point-per-game campaign on the blue line. He was named to Team Canada’s Spengler Cup roster in preparation for the 2018 Winter Olympics, his first international action for his native land, and scored his first international point in the tournament on the way to a gold medal for Team Canada. Back at NU for the second half of the season, Davies exploded, finishing 4th in Hockey East scoring (behind only teammates Stevens, Sikura, and Gaudette), first in defenseman scoring, and in the top three in assists, power play scoring, and plus-minus. Davies was named First Team All-Hockey East, First Team All-New England, and was named a First Team All-American for his efforts. And of course, he helped lead the Huskies to a Beanpot title and the end of their 30 year drought.
Coming off a dynamic sophomore season and named an assistant captain, Davies somehow improved during his junior campaign, increasing his totals to career highs with 8 goals and 36 points. Both playing shutdown minutes on the Huskies’ top pairing and running the team offensively, he took over games all season long, from his near singlehanded coast to coast game winning assist against RPI to his 4 point game and 6 point weekend at UNH. Eric Williams was the captain of the team that won a Beanpot and Hockey East in the same season for just the second time in NU history, but it’s hard to dispute that Davies was just as much the leader on the ice, and his signing was a long time coming. He was a Hockey East First Team All-Star and an All New-England defenseman yet again with more accolades to come as the award lists are released, and set a few NU records as the first defenseman in nearly two decades to lead the team in scoring and the first back to back 30 point scorer on defense this millenium. He ends his NU career painfully close to the 100 point plateau with 94 points in just barely 100 games played, easily one of the top three efficiency scorers on defense in Northeastern history and the only one who played in the new, lower scoring era of modern day hockey.
There have been a lot of best-ever’s thrown around Huntington Ave in the past couple of years. Cayden Primeau was the best goaltender in Northeastern history. Adam Gaudette was the best player in Northeastern history. The Big Three was the best line in Northeastern history. With no disrespect intended to the legends like Rob Cowie and Jim Fahey and the defensemen that got us here like Josh Manson and Matt Benning, it’s hard to say Jeremy Davies is anything but the best defenseman in Northeastern history, and he has a long NHL career ahead of him, at least in the opinion of one blog. Best of luck at the next level Jeremy.