Another NHL Draft has come and gone, featuring Northeastern incoming freshman Joe Connor being selected by the Tampa Bay Lightning, which means another round of NHL Development Camps being held by franchises as they continue to watch their prospects grow, get eyes on potential players of interest via camp invites, and set their attendees further along their paths to growth and success. 31 teams have released their camp rosters; the Islanders reportedly will not be holding a camp this year.
Northeastern is never a stranger in these camps, annually sending double digit players to them. This year is no exception, as twenty current, future, and former players attended camps spanning fifteen NHL teams, including eleven members of the 2024-25 team. Below is a record of who attended which camp, with designations for players who are Northeastern alumni as well as former players who previously played for the program.
Anaheim Ducks– Sam Colangelo^ (2020 second round pick)
Columbus Blue Jackets– James Fisher (2022 seventh Round pick)
Dallas Stars– Justin Hryckowian* (Signed with Dallas after 2023-24 season)
Florida Panthers– Cristophe Tellier (undrafted camp invitee)
Los Angeles Kings– Jack Hughes^ (2022 second round pick); Braden Doyle^ (2019 sixth round pick)
Minnesota Wild– Dylan Hryckowian (undrafted camp invitee)
Nashville Predators– TJ Semptimphelter^ (undrafted camp invitee)
Philadelphia Flyers– Jack Williams (undrafted camp invitee); Hunter McDonald* (signed with Philadelphia after 2023-24 season)
Pittsburgh Penguins– Ryan St. Louis^ (undrafted camp invitee)
San Jose Sharks– Cam Lund (2022 second round pick); Michael Fisher (2022 third round pick); Jeremie Bucheler* (signed with San Jose’s AHL team after 2023-24 season)
Tampa Bay Lightning– Joe Connor (2024 seventh round pick)
Toronto Maple Leafs– Nick Rhéaume (undrafted camp invitee)
Vancouver Canucks– Jackson Dorrington (2022 sixth round pick)
Vegas Golden Knights– Cameron Whitehead (2022 fourth round pick)
Washington Capitals– Joaquim Lemay (2021 fourth round pick); Ryan McGuire (undrafted camp invitee)
Bold denotes current player. * denotes Northeastern alumnus. ^ denotes formerly played for Northeastern
There were a couple Huskies we were shocked did not attend development camp, whether they were not invited or possibly had other reasons to not attend. Vinny Borgesi, coming off a breakout campaign with 28 points (5 goals) in his sophomore year, had previously attended camp with the Vegas Golden Knights and Colorado Avalanche. While the NHL pendulum seems to be swinging back to larger defensemen, we thought Vinny absolutely warranted a look as an offensive-minded defenseman, especially after seeing some names of players who did get a camp invite somehow. Ben Poitras, one of the incoming freshmen we are extremely excited about, also deserved an invite in our opinion after two strong USHL seasons and being ranked at times on the NHL Central Scouting Service draft rankings. Expect him to be an immediate contributor to Northeastern this year. Interestingly, Jake Boltmann, a third round pick of Calgary in 2020, did not attend their camp this season.
With development camps drawing to a close, the next newsworthy event of the offseason generally would be the formal announcement of the roster and number assignments for the new players, which is always one of our favorite days. It’s fun to see what players will be carrying on which number’s legacies from the Huskies of the past. The new recruiting cycle will open on August 1st, allowing the staff to secure verbal commitments of more future Huskies. We will cover all news related to that both here and on our Twitter.
We are more than halfway through the offseason- 13 weeks from now, we will have the first action of the season to look ahead to with the scrimmage against Quinnipiac. Stay the course, my friends. We’ll get through this humidity and heat and hockey will be with us again soon.
As always, go Huskies!