The second of three players who will be transferring to Northeastern for the 2024-25 season, Joaquim Lemay comes to Huntington Avenue after two seasons at the University of Nebraska-Omaha.
Lemay, who also goes by Jo, is a 6-foot-1 left shot defenseman who hails from St. Pierre-les-Becquets, Quebec, Canada. In two seasons at UNO, he played in 69 games, totaling 30 points (7 goals), increasing his point total from 12 to 18 in his second season. He was a member of the NCHC All-Rookie Team in 2022-23. Prior to Omaha he played for the Lincoln Stars in the USHL, where he put up 46 points in 58 games, 7th-best in the league. He was teammates with Huskies goaltender Cameron Whitehead in Lincoln. He has local ties as well, having played at Mount St. Charles Academy and the Rhode Island Saints junior program in 2019-20. He was selected in the fourth round of the 2021 NHL Draft by the Washington Capitals, he will be the second player in Northeastern’s history to be drafted by Washington, and first since Josh Robertson (2003 draft).
Described by an evaluator simply as an all-around “stud,” Lemay is a defenseman who clearly will thrive in the offensive zone and the transition part of hockey. He describes himself as “a two-way defenseman, I can breakout the puck either with a good pass or beat the pressure. I can make some good offensive plays too, but I’m responsible defensively…I bring a lot of offense and tape-to-tape plays from our zone to go to the offensive zone.”
From College Hockey Insider’s and The Mack Report’s Mike McMahon: “Lemay is an offensive defenseman who should slide into Pito Walton’s role for the Huskies. He excels in a number of areas, mostly with the puck on his stick. He’s a good shooter from the back end, drives play, and is good at finding open men up ice on breakouts.”
In the article we published after Ryan McGuire and Jake Higgins committed out of the portal, we detailed how the Huskies still had a hole in the roster at the second left defense position behind Jackson Dorrington, who we expect to elevate up and take Hunter McDonald’s spot atop the depth chart. Lemay perfectly slides into that second left defenseman position, and will bring an offensive ability that Northeastern has not had from a left-shot defenseman since Jordan Harris graduated. Lemay will likely be a fixture in offensive zone play, one of the two powerplay units, and his two way game will likely be crucial in his own zone as well. It remains to be seen who his partner may be- possibly fellow transfer Jake Boltmann, to pair a defensive-defenseman with the offensive sparkplug, or possibly one of Seth Constance or Jack Henry to ease a freshman into the trials and tribulations of college hockey.
One unique trait that Lemay will bring to the Huskies that his fellow transfers do not is that he will have a second year of eligibility with the Huskies after the 2024-25 season is up, as he only just completed his sophomore season. Of course there is the risk that Washington will want to sign him after his junior season, but the potential to get a second season out of Lemay undoubtably was appealing to the coaching staff when pursuing him. With how young Northeastern projects to be this season and next, having Lemay as an established presence on the back end would be a huge boon for Northeastern.
Welcome Joaquim to Northeastern! We look forward to watching you this Fall.
As always, go Huskies!