Northeastern has received its first public commitment out of the 2025 transfer portal when defenseman Dylan Finlay posted on his Twitter that he will be attending Northeastern for his senior season. He has played three years at Alaska-Anchorage.
Finlay is a 6-foot-2, 195 pound left shot defenseman hailing from L’Île-Bizard, Quebec. An ’01 birthday, he will turn 24 this season, and will be the second-oldest player on the roster in its current projection. In three years at Anchorage, he played in 78 games, totaling 17 points (8 goals), with a career high 10 points (4 goals) last season in 28 games, leading all Seawolves defensemen in scoring. Nine of his points were primary points, and he in fact scored against Northeastern in the Ledyard Classic in late December. 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). Last season he also added 67 shot attempts and 21 blocks per CHN Advanced Stats.
Prior to Alaska-Anchorage, he was captain for the Powell River Kings of the BCHL. He is also an alumnus of the Lac St-Lions juniors program in Quebec, which has produced some incredible talent for Northeastern over the last half-decade or so, including Justin Hryckowian and Devon Levi, who were teammates with Finlay in their youths. Former Huskies Matt Choupani and Jeremie Bucheler also teamed with Finlay in the Lac St-Lions program.
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. Areas needing improvement seem to largely be in the defensive zone though it bears mentioning that UAA as a team poor defensively and in terms of puck possession, giving up the 11th-most goals and had a -5 shot differential on average per game. Northeastern has had lots of success with the portal defensemen they have brought in over the last five years, so they certainly could unlock some of Finlay’s ability in the defensive zone. He projects as a bottom four left-sided defenseman who may play some second unit powerplay time. He gives Northeastern three left-handed defensemen next year including rising senior Jo Lemay and incoming freshman Owen Keefe.
Welcome Dylan to Northeastern!