Northeastern received their second recruit from the Canadian Hockey League on Wednesday when ’07 forward Nathan Quinn announced his commitment to the Huskies.
Quinn is a 2007 birth year currently playing for the Quebec Remparts of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. The Quebec native joins Jacob Mathieu in the QMJHL-to-Northeastern pipeline. He is a 5-foot-10, 170 pound right shot true centerman and has been playing on Quebec’s top line this season, where he has 46 points (17 goals) in 52 games. He is tied for the team lead in assists and second in goals and points. He is eligible for the 2025 NHL Draft and has been given a consensus 2nd-to-3rd round draft grade by nearly all scouting services, ranked as high as 48th by TSN’s Craig Button. He was ranked 56th among North American skaters by NHL Central Scouting.
Quinn is ranked as a four star recruit by Neutral Zone scouting services. He is described by multiple evaluators and scouts as a player for whom defense is his calling card. Detail-oriented and a mainstay around the slot and the net, Quinn is an extremely smart player with “superior hockey IQ and vision” who protects the puck very well when he possesses it. His intelligence and ability to read the game and make plays at both ends of the ice shines night in and night out, and is the number one thing highlighted by scouts, with Steven Ellis of Daily Faceoff saying “you can rely on him anywhere on the ice” in his recent piece highlighting QMJHL draft talent. He had Quinn as his #9 QMJHL player on the list and projected him as a bottom six center at the NHL level. He’s added some muscle to his frame this season which has added a new level of physicality as well.
Quinn is tenacious on the forecheck and the backcheck, and when he gets the puck on his stick in the offensive zone it’s often headed towards the net quickly. He’s got a fluid skating stride and good speed. According to FC Hockey, he’s a “true north-south player” who “maintains heavy pressure to disrupt plays, prevent breakouts, and excels as a second wave of pressure.” They further go on to describe him as “poised in possession” and “willingly goes to the net and creates from the interior,” with most of his goals and chances coming from the middle of the ice and capitalizing on rebounds and second chances. Scouts seem to have consensus that areas where Quinn can improve on are his faceoff skills, the strength of his shot, and continuing to improve his skating.
With these CHL players, enrollment years is tricky to project. People with ties to the CHL are currently suggesting 2027-28 enrollment, but also that should come with a grain of salt because of course CHL evaluators and folks connected with the league will want to believe their talent will stay as long as possible. However as a likely top 100 pick in the NHL Draft, it would be surprising to me if the staff and player chose to defer his enrollment that long- players picked that high generally do not enroll that late to college. As it stands, we currently project Quinn to enroll in 2026, when he is 19. When asked for a story on his commitment, his agent acknowledged that “there’s still some learning and development to do in the QMJHL. But starting in his 19-20 year, we’ll start thinking about it.” We will adjust our projections for Quinn as more information comes to light.
Congratulations to Nathan on his commitment to Northeastern!
As always, go Huskies!