College hockey season has been over for a while, Northeastern has had their season-ending banquet, and junior hockey leagues are finished up their playoffs, so let’s take a look at how the players in the Northeastern pipeline fared this past season in their respective leagues. A reminder to readers that in most cases, our expected enrollment timeline for players is our own projection, not official from Northeastern and the actual timing of enrollment may change.
Forwards
Cam Lund– The top forward in the incoming 2022 class, Lund is coming off a successful season for Green Bay in the USHL. Lund primarily played right wing, while also having the ability to play down the middle, and put up 51 points in 63 games this season, nearly all of them for Green Bay with one assist coming in his lone appearance for the USNTDP U18 team. His 25 goals and 25 assists showcase both finishing and playmaking ability, and Lund is expected to be a top-100 pick in the 2022 NHL Draft as a result. He is attending the NHL Scouting Combine, has pro-ready size and could go as high as the early second round. Expect Lund to be an immediate contributor for the Huskies, likely slotting in either on the second or third line wing spots to start his career.
Jack Williams– The longest-tenured recruit in this list, Williams committed to Northeastern back in 2017 and will enroll this Fall after a successful career with Muskegon in the USHL. After playing over 170 games in the USHL, including over 20 playoff games, Williams ended his career with 132 career points, and saved his best for last as a point-per-game player in both the regular season and playoffs this past season for the Lumberjacks. Serving as captain, Williams led his team to the Eastern Conference Finals, one win from playing for the Clark Cup. Williams centered the top line and should be able to play both center and wing at Northeastern and contribute immediately, likely sliding in as high as the third center spot from the get-go.
Liam Walsh– The lone forward transfer coming in next season, Walsh played three years at Merrimack where he developed into one of the Warriors’ most reliable scorers. Putting up 49 points in 81 games, he brings proven Hockey East-level scoring the Northeastern after scoring 22 goals in those three years. A former USHL teammate of Aidan McDonough, the Pennsylvania native has the ability to play center or wing, and we can envision him filling in either position in the Huskies’ middle six. He wore an A on his sweater for Merrimack last season, was a former captain in Cedar Rapids of the USHL, and could have possibly been in line for the captaincy had he stayed in North Andover, so in addition to scoring and versatility, he brings leadership to what is expected to be another young Northeastern squad next season. Expect Walsh to hit the ground running immediately once the season begins.
Grayson Badger– A player some have already pegged to have the qualities of a future captain of the Huskies, Badger played for the Dexter Southfield School and the South Shore Kings 18U teams this season. Wearing an “A” for Dexter Southfield, he put up 32 points in 24 games, and an additional 16 in 23 games for South Shore, showing his playmaking skills in bunches. Scouts believe there is untapped goal-scoring potential in Badger that will only enhance his high-energy, high-impact style. Lauded by his coaches as the quintessential teammate, Badger is a play-driver in the offensive zone. Scouts love his raw upside, and he was ranked as a C-rated player for the 2022 NHL Draft, meaning a potential late-round selection has his name on it. Badger was selected by Waterloo in the 2021 USHL Futures Draft and we would expect him to play at least one season with them before likely enrolling in Fall 2023.
Ethan Fredericks– Fredericks made his USHL debut this year for a Des Moines team that struggled overall, but gave the Georgia native plenty of opportunity to grow as he played up and down the lineup, eventually earning top-six time by season’s end. Fredericks put up 10 points (3 goals) in 48 games, and is expected back in Des Moines next season where he will continue to hone his power forward game. His development path so far reminds me a lot of Zach Aston-Reese’s, who eventually became one of the top collegiate power forwards en route to an NHL career. Eligible for the 2023 NHL Draft, Fredericks is someone who put up big number sat the 16U and 15U levels, and we expect it will just be a matter of time before he proves his mettle in the USHL against the older competition after playing the season as one of the younger players in the league.
James Fisher– One of the handful of prep school products on this list, Fisher played for the Belmont Hill School (MA) this season where he steadily grew his game and grew his NHL stock. Already with pro-level size (6’2″, 195 pound center), Fisher put up over a point per game (28 points in 27 games) for Belmont. He plays a very north-south style game according to the New England Hockey Journal, a 200-foot power forward who can absolutely own both the middle and the boards of the offensive zone with his size and skill. In his own words, he’s “unrelating and just (going) to the net: go, go, go.” Exactly the type of high-motor energy that will endear himself to scouts, coaches, teammates, and fans. He was a C-rated skater by NHL Central Scouting, indicating the potential to be a late-round pick in this year’s NHL Draft.
Ben Yurchuk– the New Jersey native is currently playing for the Long Island Gulls 16U team after dominating at Randolph High School, while also getting some time with the USNTDP U17 team as well this year in a call-up situation. We do not have much in the way of stats for Yurchuk from this season, but reports indicate he is continuing on an upward trajectory. He’s a slick, playmaking center who has been called a top-20 ’05 in the nation, and we expect he will play for the Chicago Steel in the USHL next season after being a first round pick by the Steel in the 2021 USHL Futures Draft. Expect Yurchuk to arrive in Fall 2024 and to be a hot commodity in the 2023 NHL Draft.
Dylan Hryckowian– Justin’s younger brother is following his brother’s footsteps to Matthews Arena, first by leading a strong Salisbury team to an Elite 8 championship (while winning tournament MVP in the procesS), and then next season will play for Cedar Rapids in the USHL, as his brother did before arriving at Northeastern. A gifted playmaker with silky-smooth hands, Hryckowian put up 43 points in 28 games for Salisbury while also putting up 46 points in another 28 games for the Buffalo Regals 18U team. Named to the All-NEPSAC Team and named New England Hockey Journal’s Player of the Year, Hryckowian will bring skill and scoring touch to the Huskies’ forward corps when he arrives in Fall 2023.
Ben Poitras– Teammates with Hryckowian on that championship-winning Salisbury team and Buffalo Regals team, Poitras was a point-per-game player for Salisbury (27 in 27) while also putting up 45 points in 26 games for Buffalo. Named the Best Defensive Forward this season by the NEHJ, Poitras made his USHL debut with Sioux City this season after being selected by Youngstown in the 2021 Futures Draft. That Sioux City team eventually won the Clark Cup, the USHL Championship, for the first time in 20 years, giving Poitras valuable championship experience twice in one season. He blends skill, compete level, and tenacity and will be an incredibly valuable asset for the Huskies from Day 1 up and down the lineup. As an ’05 we expect he will need at least one full season in the USHL before enrolling either in Fall 2023 or 2024.
Eli Sebastian– Sebastian is one of three skater recruits currently dominating north of the border in Canada ahead of his Northeastern career. Sebastian attends St. Andrews College (equivalent to prep school in the US) where he put up 41 points (15 goals) in 46 games this season. Sebastian is a centerman who is committed to the Penticton Vees of the BCHL next season, which featured 2022 transfer Braden Doyle this past season. Penticton is consistently one of the top BCHL teams in an offense-driven league, so it will be a great spot for Sebastian to develop his high-motor, high-speed game prior to arriving in Fall 2023. He is also eligible for the 2022 NHL Draft and may sneak in as a late-round selection.
Andy Moore– One of two recruits playing for Cedar Rapids in the USHL, Moore is a power forward who will enroll in Fall 2023. This season he played center and wing, he put up 27 points (12 goals) in 58 games playing up and down the lineup. Moore will return to Cedar Rapids next season and will be one of the older players on the team, and likely will be looked to shoulder top-line minutes with a spike in production to be expected. He adds a dimension of sandpaper and physicality as well, with over 100 penalty minutes, which will blend well with other recruits’ speed and skill.
Giacomo Martino– a pure goal scorer with elite speed, Martino is an offensive dynamo out of Canada. Playing for the St. Michaels Buzzers of the OJHL, were he put up 54 points in 54 games as a 16-year-old (in a league with players ranging from 16 to 20 years old). St. Michaels is the same program that developed the Jackson twins and the OJHL also produced Northeastern legend Dylan Sikura, so the Huskies have had a history of success with skilled, offensive forwards from this league. Defenseman Tyler Spott also played for St. Michaels prior to enrolling. Martino is still 2 years minimum from enrolling at Northeastern- we project him for a Fall 2024 arrival, which gives him time to grow and develop, likely with at least one more year with St. Michaels. He is likely to be a well-regarded prospect in the 2023 NHL Draft.
Anthony Messuri– another local product in the pipeline, Messuri has bounced between the NAHL and NCDC after a starring career at Arlington High. Expected to enroll this Fall and start in a depth role for the Huskies, Messuri had 11 points (4 goals) this season in 32 games split between the Aberdeen Wings (NAHL) and the Utica Jr. Comets (NCDC).
Luke Posthumus– The newest member of the pipeline, Posthumus competed with the Nepean Raiders U18 team for the majority of last season, putting up a staggering 81 points (38 goals) in just 32 games to lead the league in scoring and be named league MVP. He made his debut in the CCHL with Nepean’s flagship team, scoring his first CCHL goal in 6 games. After his CCHL games, he played in the World Youth Championship tournament, putting up 17 points in just 8 games en route to being named tournament MVP in a championship-winning effort. He was taken by Muskegon in the USHL Draft, so he has avenues to play both in the USHL and CCHL next season. He’s an offensively gifted center whose game is blooming now at 17 years old, and we expect his arrival in either 2024 or 2025.
Defensemen
Vinny Borgesi– Originally committing in 2019, Borgesi has played 2 seasons for the Tri-City Storm of the USHL after coming from the esteemed hockey factory Selects Academy. A mobile, puck-moving right-handed defenseman, Borgesi is seen by many to be the heir-apparent to the line of high-end blue liners at Northeastern that includes the likes of Jordan Harris and Jeremy Davies. Last season for Tri-City, Borgesi had 39 points (32 assists) in 62 games and will be expected to contribute early and often at Northeastern, likely getting some powerplay time to start the season and I could see him sliding into the second right defense slot right off the bat, behind senior Jeremie Bucheler.
Jackson Dorrington– Fredericks’ teammate in Des Moines and playing on the Bucs’ top pairing, Dorrington has previously been profiled to us as a player somewhere between the skillsets of Jordan Harris and Jayden Struble. As we mentioned, Des Moines struggled as a team but Dorrington still posted 11 points in 41 games from the blue line, and as a top-pairing defenseman got a ton of opportunity to play against the best the USHL had to offer. Dorrington is enrolling this Fall and is expected to be a contributor right off the bat, and he’s expected to be another Northeastern recruit taken in the 2022 NHL Draft.
Braden Doyle– The latest defenseman to join Northeastern out of the transfer portal, Doyle is a former 6th round pick by the Los Angeles Kings who played one semester at Boston University before entering the. portal seeking a better place to develop ahead of professional hockey. After leaving BU, Doyle joined the Penticton Vees of the BCHL and helped them win the league championship, scoring 34 points in 44 games. Doyle is a former star at Lawrence Academy who played two seasons in Dubuque before starting with the Terriers, putting up 56 points in 99 USHL games. A true offensive defenseman, Doyle has been vocal in interviews with Kings media that he’s been working on his defensive game to be more well-rounded for the NCAA and professional levels. He enters Northeastern this fall as a sophomore and I expect he will be looked at to carry some of the offensive zone load vacated by the graduation of Jordan Harris
Hunter McDonald– In his second USHL season, Big Mac took his game to a new level that saw him get dealt mid-season from the Omaha Lancers to the Chicago Steel, one of the premiere programs of the last decade in the league. After acquiring McDonald, Chicago would go on to advance to the USHL Western Conference finals. McDonald played in 54 games this year and scored 14 points (4 goals), profiling as a proficient shutdown type defenseman with a blend of size (6’3″, 205 lbs) and skill that started to generate NHL Draft buzz even as a re-entry option. He may not light up the scoresheet but he has experience playing on both sides of a defensive pairing and his skillset will be invaluable to a young Huskies defensive corps next season. Expect the New Yorker to see plenty of time early in the season for Northeastern next year.
Kyle Furey– The second right handed defenseman of the 2022 recruiting class, Furey played this past season with the Lone Star Brahmas of the NAHL, where he was one of the top point-scoring defensemen of the year. In 48 regular season games he added 34 points (27 assists), while adding 5 points in 9 playoff games. Furey will come in and initially add depth the the Northeastern blue line, and with how valuable a mobile, offensive-minded right shot defenseman is, we can expect 4 years of contributions from him while at Northeastern.
Joe Fleming- playing with Moore on Cedar Rapids in the USHL, Fleming is an absolute tank on the blue line. 6’1″ and 220 pounds with a mean streak, Fleming earned over 200 penalty minutes this year to lead the USHL, while also contributing 16 points (2 goals) in 60 games. He’s headed back to Ridertown for another USHL season but expect the physicality to stay dialed up to a 10, which will bring a different element to the Huskies’ blue line next year that most others do not. High-PIM USHL players are not foreign to Northeastern, as both Tanner Pond and Biagio Lerario had seasons with over 150 PIM and turned into productive players and leaders for the Huskies. Expect Fleming to improve on his skating and finesse next season and compete for one of the right-handed defenseman spots next year.
Kaden Muir– a shutdown defensive defenseman in its truest form, Muir played all season in the USNTDP program, playing parts of the season with the U18 and U17 teams. In over 70 games he put up 2 goals and 10 assists, but simply put, that’s not his game. At 6’1″, 185 pounds, the right-shot defenseman is expected to enroll in the Fall of 2023 and bring a stabilizing presence to the blue line. Similar to recent graduate student Tommy Miller, Muir’s value lies in his ability to protect his own zone and get the buck moving up towards the neutral and offensive zones rather than being the scorer himself. He is a candidate to be a late selection in the 2022 NHL Draft, will spend the next season in the USHL, and enroll in 2023.
Dylan Compton– One of the top players in the Canadian Sports School Hockey League this past year, Compton was voted by coaches to be named the top defenseman as well as the MVP of the U18 Prep Division. The right-shot defenseman had 46 points in 36 games per EliteProspects, and even snuck in two games with the BCHL’s Vernon Vipers, an impressive accomplishment as he only turned 17 years old mid-season. Expect Compton to play one year of high-level junior hockey, either in the BCHL or USHL, before enrolling in 2023 or 2024 with the expectation that he will continue the line as the next great offensive defensemen for the Huskies.
Michael Fisher– one of the prospects in the pipeline with the highest professional upside, Fisher had an outstanding year for St. Mark’s (MA Prep HS). Likely a top-90 pick in the 2022 NHL Draft, the right-handed, smooth-skating blue liner is a shutdown-type defender who found his scoring touch this year in his final year in prep with 50 points in 28 games. He was named to the All-NEPSAC team, and was named by the New England Hockey Journal to their All-Prep Team as well as Defenseman of the Year. An attendee of the 2022 NHL Scouting Combine, he’s a Youngstown Phantoms draft pick and is expected to play a year in the USHL before matriculating to Northeastern in Fall 2023.
Nolan Hayes– A tough year for the Boston native due to injuries, Hayes still was able to suit up in 33 games for the Omaha Lancers, scoring 5 points (1 goal) in those games. He was traded to the Sioux City Musketeers mid-season who made the USHL playoffs but Hayes was hurt when he was traded and has yet to suit up for Sioux City. Still 19 years old until August, he will play one more season in the USHL, hopefully a full and healthy one to continue his development, before enrolling in 2023.
Seth Constance– The newest addition to the pipeline’s blue line corps, Constance is another right-shot defender with pro potential and a skillset that one scout said is just “good at everything.” He won the USA Hockey National 18U championship with Mount St. Charles, a powerhouse program out of Rhode Island, and made his USHL debut with Tri-City this year as well. Constance will return to the USHL next season and we expect two seasons of development for him before enrolling in 2024.
Goalies
Cameron Whitehead– One of the two goalies getting time in Lincoln, Whitehead played to a 16-8-4 record with the Stars this year. He has 1 shutout, and has put up a .893 save percentage and 3.19 goals-against-average. His Lincoln Stars made the USHL playoffs as a 3 seed in the West, but were eliminated by Waterloo in the first round. Whitehead was ranked as a C-rated player by NHL Central Scouting, and was invited to the 2022 NHL Scouting Combine, giving him an additional chance to impress teams ahead of possibly being picked in the late rounds of the 2022 NHL Draft. He is projected to enroll in Fall 2023 after another year in the USHL. His goalie counterpart is slated to enroll at Colorado College next Fall, meaning it’s likely that Whitehead will have starter minutes all to himself next year in Lincoln.
Grant Riley– Riley’s Chilliwack Chiefs made it to the second round of the BCHL playoffs before being eliminated, and in those playoffs we saw Riley play some of his best hockey of the year, putting up two shutouts and keeping the Chiefs in contention despite minimal goal support in some games. This season Riley put up at .907 save percentage in the regular season and .905 in the playoffs, totaling 49 games of experience ahead of his enrollment to Northeastern in Fall 2022. We expect he will fill the role occupied by TJ Semptimphelter this past season and push for playing time should Devon Levi need a night off.
Harrison Chesney– The most recent commit in the pipeline, Chesney’s PAL Jr Islanders made the NCDC Playoffs before being eliminated in the first round. Chesney was one half of the Islanders’ stellar goaltending duo, putting up a sparkling .926 save percentage and 2.73 GAA in 25 games this year. He also will enroll in Fall 2022 to complete the Northeastern goalie trio for the upcoming season.