We met the two new goaltenders in our first article, now let’s focus in on the four new players who will be guarding the blue line on defense, comprised of two transfer seniors and two incoming freshmen.
#4 Dylan Compton– The younger of the two freshmen enrolling this year, Compton is a 6-foot 185 pound ’05 right-shot defenseman from British Columbia, Canada. He played last season for the Waterloo Blackhawks of the USHL, where he was the top scoring defenseman in the league (4-40-45 in 62 games), and followed that up by being the top scoring defenseman in the USHL playoffs (2-11-13 in 15 games). He was named to the USHL Second All-Star Team and was a finalist for Defenseman of the Year. Prior to Waterloo, Compton played a season each with the Brooks Bandits and the Vernon Vipers in the AJHL and BCHL, respectively, where he was a 2023 BCHL All Star. He also won a gold medal at the 2023 World Junior A Championships with Canada.
An offensive defenseman, Compton is is an elite puck mover and scoring chance creator. He skates extremely well and has elite vision, which serves him particularly well on the powerplay with the extra open ice. He dances on the blue line and can both break down a defense with his puck skills or score on his own, favoring wrist and snapshots over a classic slapshot.
Compton is expected to follow the lineage of puck-moving offenseive defensemen before him, including Vinny Borgesi, Jordan Harris, and Jeremy Davies. With the current roster construction, we’d project him to start 2025 on the third pairing where he can be deployed aggressively against teams’ bottom six and bottom pairing, and possibly as a powerplay quarterback for the second unit.
#9 Noah Jones– Jones comes to Northeastern after a three season junior hockey career, most recently with the Omaha Lancers in the USHL. Jones played 115 games for Omaha over two seasons, putting up 29 points (9 goals) in that time. He was an assistant captain last season. Prior to Omaha he played for Wenatchee in the BCHL and is a product of the New Jersey Rockets youth program.
A towering 6-foot-5, 210 pound right shot defenseman with a mean streak to his game, Jones is more of a defense and physicality-first player. A smooth skater with projectable, raw tools, Northeastern reportedly beat out other Hockey East and Big Ten teams to land his commitment in early 2024. Jones projects as likely playing lower in the lineup as a freshman, potentially rotating in the 6/7th defenseman role, but his tools and skating ability give him the chance to play higher as he develops at NU.
#24 Austen May– One of two transfers enrolling this year for his senior season, May is no stranger to Hockey East having played the last three seasons with Providence. The Michigan native played 85 games as a Friar, totaling 31 points (8 goals), with last season being his career-best line of 1-13-14 (three assists coming against the Huskies). He also had 134 shot attempts last season, which can add another element of offense from the blue line. Prior to Providence, he played over 120 USHL games for four different organizations, and is a product of the Honeybaked youth program.
May is a 5-foot-11, 170 pound right shot and is an excellent shutdown defenseman who profiled as one of the best analytic players in the portal this offseason. He rarely takes penalties, with seven minor penalties the entirety of his collegiate career. Last season, he ranked in the 90th percentile for defensive play, 79th percentile for offense, and 65th percentile for transition play. Statistics show May to be excellent in shot suppression and in winning puck battles, getting the puck off opposing sticks and onto his own team’s sticks. From College Hockey Insider’s Mike McMahon: “May is an elite defender. He’s adequate offensively, but he really shines in the D zone and his ability to make efficient breakout passes coming out of the zone. He wins battles, forces turnovers, and shuts down opponents.”
May got time on both the powerplay and penalty kill at Providence, and it stands to reason he will be leaned on heavily on the penalty kill at NU as well. We project him to slot in as the RD2 for the Huskies behind captain Vinny Borgesi, and to be a fixture on the ice as much as possible.
#26 Dylan Finlay– The last new defenseman to the Northeastern blue line brigade this season comes to Boston after three seasons with Alaska-Anchorage. In 78 games, he scored 17 points (8 goals), and is coming off a career season with 10 points (4 goals) for the Seawolves. Finlay is a product of the Lac St-Louis youth program of Quebec, which has produced incredible talent for Northeastern in recent years including the Hryckowian brothers, Devon Levi and Jeremie Bucheler. Prior to UAA he played in both the BCHL and NAHL.
Advanced analytics share that Finlay has great offensive ability including pure goal scoring from the blue line, quantity and quality of passes to the slot, and play driving. He averaged over 17 minutes of ice time last year, gaining more responsibility and playing time as the year went on, averaging over 21 minutes of ice time the last 7 games of the year. He rarely takes penalties, only taking 6 total minor penalties in the last two seasons (51 games). He profiles as someone who can play the LD2 or LD3 role behind Joaquim Lemay, though with Finlay and Lemay being the only two left-shot defensemen on the roster, that could open up more opportunity for Finlay early in the season.
Two-thirds through this year’s New to Northeastern series and we’ve met the men charged with keeping opposing teams at bay and keeping the puck out of the Northeastern net. In our next article we will meet the new additions up front for the Huskies who will look to improve on the Huskies’ scoring fortunes this season.
As always, go Huskies!