On Tuesday, NU Hockey Blog broke the news that Northeastern will be committing three players out of the portal to play for them in 2026-27. We’ve already published our scouting report on Miguel Marques, the winger coming to Northeastern from Maine. Now we turn our attention to the blue line, starting with Alex Pineau, a 6-foot-3, 205 pound right shot defender from Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada.
Pineau comes to Northeastern from the Brown Bears of the ECAC, continuing a back-and-forth pipeline between the schools. Pineau played three years at Brown, captaining the team as a junior in 2025-26 and playing as an assistant captain as a sophomore. In his career he has 40 points (15 goals) in 93 games, though last year he fell off with only 9 points (1 goal) after back-to-back 7 goal seasons to start his collegiate career. His 7 goal freshman season set the Brown record for most goals by a freshman defenseman. He averaged nearly 26 minutes per game this season, 5th-most in college hockey. He blocked 58 shots this year, tied for second-most in the ECAC, after leading the conference in blocks as a sophomore with 84.
He was a finalist for the ECAC Best Defensive Defenseman Award in 2025, in a year where he averaged over 27 minutes per game, finishing second nationally to Northeastern’s Vinny Borgesi. He also led the nation in TOI as a freshman with over 27 minutes per game. Per InStat data, Pineau won 55% of puck battles that he engaged in, and completed 86% of his passes. He had a 1.5:1 ratio for takeaways and giveaways, indicating he does well to dislodge the puck from attackers. After his freshman season, Pineau attended NHL Development Camp with the Vegas Golden Knights, and after his sophomore season, attended with the Nashville Predators.
Pineau profiles in our eyes as a Tommy Miller/Jake Boltmann type player- someone that will log minutes on the penalty kill, be hard to play against when on the ice, and bring undeniable leadership in the locker room and when the game is going on. A defensive defenseman who can shoot the puck, Pineau will give Northeastern the flexibility to have three true pairs they can roll, something they have sorely missed the last couple seasons. We would not expect him to play the same heavy dose of minutes at Northeastern as he did at Brown, just by nature of having more talented teammates that can share the load. Depending on how the coaches deploy the rest of the defensemen, we could see Pineau play up and down the lineup. Right now we are penciling him into the third pair, behind fellow transfer Joel Kjellberg and incoming freshman Jordan Tourigny, both of whom likely bring more offensive output.
Congratulations to Alex and welcome to Northeastern!
As always, go Huskies!