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Early departures are a fact of life in college hockey. For elite programs like Boston College and the University of Minnesota, such departures are expected and often are minor speed bumps at worst. For a team like Northeastern, they tend to have a much bigger effect. And after suffering a wave of defensive departures in recent years, the Huskies are now feeling the void left by players who have left early or decommitted.
It started three years ago when Jake Newton left after an impressive freshman season. The next year, the Huskies lost Jamie Oleksiak after he was drafted in the first round by the Dallas Stars. This past year saw Anthony Bitetto, Luke Eibler, and Drew and Justin Daniels all leave the program prior to graduating. Mix in a decommitment from Garrett Haar when Jim Madigan was named head coach, and you have the recipe for a defensive crisis.
The results have been disastrous. After getting off to a surprisingly good start, the defensive unit has been a massive disappointment. Sophomore Josh Manson, who was brought in to replace Haar, is still a work in progress – after converting from offenseman to defenseman during his last year of junior hockey . He has become the de facto No. 1 defenseman on this team, even though he is not ready for the responsibility that comes with it. Senior Drew Ellement has really been the only mainstay on defense. He too has had to take on a bigger role this year. The adjustment has had some rough moments.
Madigan has been forced to search far and wide to try to fill the gaps. The result has been a young, inexperienced group. That group features a transfer, walk-ons and decommits who have come to Northeastern from a range of junior leagues. But as diverse as the group is, they have one thing in common: they are struggling to adjust.
The biggest issue the defense has displayed so far is the inability to get the puck out of their own zone. As the season has progressed, opponents have seen more film on Northeastern and they have been upping the pressure of their forechecking units. This has only increased the amount of mistakes and giveaways. For all the talk of goalie controversy, special team struggles, and an inability to score, the biggest problem on this team has been costly turnovers leading to easy goals for the opposition. Until that is fixed, or at least significantly curtailed, the Huskies will continue to bleed goals and lose games.
Freshman defensemen tend to struggle out of the gates, so this doesn’t come as a total surprise. Even many of the early departures who caused this mess struggled initially. Oleksiak came in extremely raw and with plenty of question marks. By the end of the year, he was a first round NHL draft pick. Size had a lot to do with that, but the improvement he showed through the year was incredible. Bitteto and Eibler came in the same season and struggled initially, despite being a little more seasoned. They finished the season as the No. 1 pairing. Even Drew Daniels turned into a serviceable defenseman after converting from offense to defense halfway through his sophomore year.
The hope and expectation is that this current group can make improvements and grow as the season goes on. Freshman Mike Gunn, arguably the best defensive recruit Madigan brought in, has yet to suit up this season, though that may change soon. But with freshman Colton Saucerman currently out of the lineup after a recent injury and senior Drew Ellement picking up a concussion in Saturday’s loss, it seems that Northeastern will have to continue to rely on guys that are learning as they go.
Hopefully they can learn from the mistakes of the first half of the season or else the second half will go much like the past two months.
– Andrew Stukas can be reached at [email protected]
