Mike McMahon of
College Hockey Insider put out their preview of Hockey East.
Yesterday's issue ranked Hockey East by tiers. The top tier consisted of UMass, BC, BU, NU and PC in that order. Here are his comments about the Huskies:
4) Northeastern (9-9-3, lost to UMass in the HEA Quarterfinals)
Devon Levi.
That’s about all you need to know.
Levi hasn’t played a college hockey game yet, and he’ll finally make his debut this fall after missing all of last season with an injury he suffered at the World Juniors. He could very well be the best goalie in Hockey East this season. One of my bold predictions - which will be published in a later newsletter - is that Levi will win the Mike Richter Award as a first-year player.
Look, Levi is a game-changer. He absolutely dominated the World Juniors last season. In seven games, playing against the best U-20 competition in the world, he posted a 0.75 GAA and a .964 save percentage. Northeastern might lack some of the offense it has had in recent years — although I don’t think the offense will dip as much as others — but that might not matter if Levi plays as well as he is capable of playing.
Next, let’s look at the transfer portal. Northeastern lost six players, but many of them were players that the program didn’t have room to feature.
TJ Walsh is very good, and I expect him to make an immediate impact at RPI, but he wasn’t going to make that same impact at Northeastern because the roster is more crowded. The same goes for
Neil Shea.
Connor Murphy was able to leverage last year’s success as the starter when Levi was hurt into potentially a starting gig at Union. It was obviously smart for him to look for a new program because Levi is going to dominate the minutes at Northeastern for as long as he’s on campus.
Then the Huskies went and added a big-time scorer to replace some offense lost from
Zach Solow.
Jakov Novak is terrific. If anyone tells you that the knock on him is that he produced his points playing against a “weaker” schedule in Atlantic Hockey, tell them that they don’t know what they’re talking about. Sure, the league is weaker than Hockey East generally speaking, but Novak produced in non-conference games at the same rate. He had 62 points, and 30 goals, in just 87 college games. He’s very, very good.
The Huskies will also return
Aidan McDonough (10g-10a) and one of the top freshmen in the league last season,
Gunnarwolfe Fontaine (6g-9a). Plus,
Sam Colangelo is healthy again and won’t be subject to the long quarantine requirements by Hockey Canada, and then
Dylan Jackson should build on a strong freshman year. (My edit: IMO, Dylan is terrific, but so is his twin Ty. Playing together, they make each other even better.)
It’s funny, a lot of writers (myself sometimes included) look at “returning scoring” as only the players at the top of the stat sheet. But Colangelo was hurt, and he finished last year with just three assists in eight games. That would hardly stand out. Do you know what does stand out? He generated 25 shots in those eight games. In a typical 34-game season, he was on pace to produce more than 100 shots on goal. He’s very skilled, and he generated plenty of offense last season in the limited time he was able to play.
Good teams are built from the net out, right? Well, it might not get any better in Hockey East than Northeastern. Levi is one of the best in the league. The Huskies also return two of the better defensemen in the league.
Jordan Harris might be one of the best all-around defenders in the East region and I think he’s an All-American candidate.
Jayden Struble is underrated and often criticized for his physical play, but show me someone another defender in the league who is that ferocious physically?
On the back end, the Huskies also added Michigan State transfer
Tommy Miller. He might not produce a lot of offense, but he’s experienced and will absolutely contribute for the Huskies somewhere in their six-man rotation.
Oh, and guess what? Northeastern has the No. 8-ranked recruiting class in the nation, according to Neutral Zone. It’s the top incoming class in Hockey East.
Lastly, notice how we’re all the way at the end of this preview before I even mentioned
Jerry Keefe as the new head coach? That’s because, as I’ve written previously, I expect this transition to be the smoothest in the history of the sport. Keefe was so involved in that program as an assistant under
Jim Madigan, I don’t think much will change whatsoever with how the Huskies play or recruit. Madigan was not shy about praising Keefe, at one point calling him “the most important assistant coach in the country” in a story I did a few years ago, and he noted that his fingerprints were all over the program.
Team MVP:
Jordan Harris, D (Sr.)
Impact Freshman:
Jack Hughes, F
Potential Breakout:
Sam Colangelo, F (Soph.)
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