Continuing our annual New to Northeastern series is our look at the new blue liners who will be joining the Huskies this season. If you missed our first article featuring new goaltender Quentin Sigurdson, you can read it here. We break down the five defensemen into two groups for the sake of this article: transfers and freshmen.
The Transfers
Joaquim Lemay– Of the three defensemen transfers coming to Northeastern this season, arguably no one will have a bigger impact on the play of the Huskies from the get-go than Lemay, a former fourth round draft pick of the Washington Capitals who comes to Boston after two successful years with Nebraska-Omaha in the NCHC. A left-shot, 6-foot defenseman, Lemay put up 30 points in his two seasons out west, increasing his goals, assists, and total points in his sophomore season compared to his freshman year. He also had 66 shots on goal and 140 shot attempts, which would have been third-best among Huskies defensemen last season behind Vinny Borgesi and Pito Walton.
Described as simply a “stud” by one talent evaluator when he committed to Northeastern out of the portal, he’s an two-way defenseman who will drive the puck and drive play both breaking out of the defensive zone and neutral zones with tape-to-tape passing, but he also can help establish a cycle game or unleash an accurate bomb of a shot while in the offensive zone. When the puck is on his stick, wherever he is, good things will happen for the Huskies.
We project that Lemay will be locked into the first or second left defenseman slot, and the other going to Jackson Dorrington. We also expect Lemay to be a fixture on the powerplay- whether that’s powerplay unit 1 or 2 remains to be seen as we expect Vinny Borgesi to maintain his powerplay spot as well after a breakout season.
Jake Boltmann– One of two graduate student transfers for the Huskies’ blue line this year, Boltmann comes to Boston after a successful four year career with Notre Dame in the Big Ten, where he was an assistant captain last year and was a three year member of the Big Ten All-Academic Team. Let’s be clear about one thing- Boltmann will never be confused with an offense-first player, and he admits as such. The 6-foot-1, 200 pound right shot Minnesotan thrives in his own zone where he prides himself on being tough to play against, blocking shots and shutting down opposing offensive attempts. A stay-at-home defender who loves blocking shots, Boltmann has had over 110 total blocks the last three seasons. From College Hockey Insider’s and The Mack Report’s Mike McMahon: “Boltmann is a hard-nosed, physical defenseman who is at his best in his own end. He punishes forwards in front of the net and along the walls. He’s going to set a tone and win battles in the dirty areas.”
For folks who prefer player-to-player comparables rather than scouting lingo, we liken Boltmann to what previous transfer Tommy Miller brought to the Huskies. Miller was a stay-at-home, right shot defenseman who was in a leadership role in his previous Big Ten team, was voted assistant captain at Northeastern similar to how Boltmann was, and blocked a ton of shots. If Boltmann can fill his role in the way Miller did his one year at Northeastern, it will be a home run of a move by the staff bringing him in.
Boltmann will be a fixture on Northeastern’s penalty kill and we expect him to be a responsible defenseman in his own end, both leading by example on the ice and off the ice. In the lineup, we project that he would be in the second right defenseman spot behind Vinny Borgesi, either pairing with another like-minded defenseman to have a shutdown pair the coaches can employ, or pairing with a more offensive-minded player to create some balance when on the ice.
Jake Higgins– The second of two graduate transfers on defense, Higgins comes to Northeastern from Holy Cross, where he also was an assistant captain his senior year and was a four-time member of the Atlantic Hockey All-Academic Team. Coming off a career year in 2023-24 with nine points, the big right-shot defenseman stands 6-foot-2, 205 pounds, and similar to Boltmann profiles as a defense-first player. He blocked shots at an even higher rate than Boltmann while playing for the Crusaders, tallying over 140 blocks in four seasons. Another player we do not expect much offensively from, Higgins instead makes his living in his own end. Per McMahon, he was one of the best shut-down defensemen in Atlantic Hockey last season, with 26.3 takeaways per 60 minutes. He also provides the coaching staff with some lineup flexibility, having played both left and right defense for Holy Cross in his time there.
We currently project Higgins to be the sixth or seventh defenseman in the Huskies’ rotation, behind the two other transfers, and incumbents Borgesi and Jackson Dorrington, and rotating with the two freshmen below. His experience at the college level could help him make a push for bottom pair minutes, particularly against some of the heavier-style teams on the Huskies schedule. It would not surprise me in the least if Higgins finds a role like Patrick Dawson last season, starting with sparse playing time but eventually playing himself into the lineup on a regular basis as the season progresses.
The Freshmen
Jack Henry– Henry comes to Northeastern after a year in the United States Hockey League playing for the Madison Capitols. Previously a Yale recruit, he flipped to Northeastern in January and is one of the most exciting defenseman prospects the Huskies have brought in over the last couple years, in my eyes. In 40 games with Madison he scored 24 points (6 goals), and similar to Lemay displayed excellent skill with the puck on his stick. Henry is an elite skater with a very good shot, and passes the puck very well in all three zones. While in Madison he ran powerplay units which could be a role for him right off the bat at Northeastern as well; between Lemay, Borgesi, and Henry, this might be the best crop of defenseman powerplay generals the Huskies have had in years. In fact, one evaluator said that Henry’s game was extremely similar to what Borgesi provides, except that Henry is larger than Vinny is, coming in at 6-foot, 190 pounds on the right side.
Henry does have experience playing left defense as well, giving Coach Keefe and his staff some options in how they want to deploy him. I would expect Henry to start penciled in to the second or third right defense spot, likely pairing with a more defense-first partner to allow him more minutes with the puck on his stick driving offensive play. With his flexibility though, he may see time at LD3 with someone like Higgins or Boltmann on the right side to allow him more offensive freedom, with a more stay-at-home partner supporting him on the back end. In either case, I feel that Henry has a chance to be the most exciting blue line freshman at Northeastern since Jordan Harris, and I can’t wait to see him on the ice.
Seth Constance– One of the longest-committed players in Northeastern’s pipeline, Constance committed to Northeastern all the way back in May 2022. He comes to Huntington Avenue after two seasons with Tri-City of the United States Hockey League. Constance is a 6-foot-1, 185 pound right shot defenseman from Illinois. In his two seasons he put up 38 points (7 goals), and was an assistant captain his second season.
Per EliteProspects scouting, Constance is a solid puck-moving defenseman with more of an emphasis on breakouts and a simple game rather than an offense-driving one. He’s very good on puck retrieval and breaking the puck out of his own zone. He has good agility and good gap control, which should help him adjust to the speed of college hockey immediately and be a productive bottom four defenseman off the bat. We project that Constance will likely be competing for third pair minutes to start his Huskies career.
That does it for our review of the five new defensemen for the Huskies this year, a rare instance where every member of the incoming class of new players is expected to see at least some playing time this season. We finish our look ahead to 2024-25 with the forwards, of which we have nine new faces to the program, which will be a hefty article. But we are so close to hockey season we can taste it- the team is practicing, tickets are being bought, and all eyes are focused squarely on Quinnipiac for the first game action of the year on October 6th.