It was a bit of a crazy Friday of prospect hockey thanks to the New York Rangers making the JT Miller trade. The trade added a prospect defenseman by the name of Jackson Dorrington who currently is playing for Northeastern in the Hockey East conference.

Dorrington is a 20 year old 6’2 192 lb. left-handed shooter who is in his third year at Northeastern. He originally was the Canucks sixth round pick in the 2022 NHL Entry Draft.

I won’t sit here and say overall that I like the deal as there are so many reasons why not to like it. But for the sake of fairness to Dorrington I will post what a couple of the other prospect websites think of him first.

First from the folks over at Dobber Prospects who have been following Dorrington for the last few years:

Dorrington made vast improvements in 2023-24 after a solid freshman season. He netted six goals and finished with 12 points while vastly improving his defensive play. Dorrington is off to another great start this season, his junior year. The 2022 sixth-rounder is already up to five points in just 11 games with Northeastern. Additionally, Dorrington was named the Hockey East Defender of the Week. So far, Dorrington has made significant strides in his defensive game. He’s getting into shooting lanes and using his 6-2 frame to disrupt attackers. Dorrington will look to continue his high-level play and lead Northeastern for the rest of the season. Nick Orr

The Hockey Writers in their 2022 NHL Draft Guide wrote:

First and foremost, he’s a big guy who looks to play a two-way game. He uses his size to engage physically and can use either his size or his stick to take the puck from opponents in puck battles. He’s also used that size to defend opposing rushes and deny zone entries. Additionally, he had decent gap control and the ability to pivot well to either side. 

He doesn’t take many risks with the puck, and can use that safety to make smart breakout passes to help his team transition into the offensive zone. Given the time and space, especially while on the power play, he can make some good passes to set up teammates.

Finally Elite Prospects  in their 2022 NHL Draft Guide:

The constants in Dorrington’s game are the intelligence across all three zones. Defensively, he eliminates off-puck threats and times his engagements at the moment of least resistance, complementing his robust style. In transition, he steps inside, cuts around forecheckers, and passes to the middle – he’s an advantage creator up the rink. And he’s an instinctual activator, defined by his constant weak-side activation from the point and bolstered by his give-and-go style.

Now the reason I highlighted the last sentence is going to be why I do not see Dorrington as a good fit for the Rangers. For a guy who is supposed to be mainly an offensive-minded defender, Dorrington’s numbers are nothing to get excited about.

Laviolette doesn’t let his defensemen go on the attack and join the rush (ask both Fox and Miller as they are superior offensive talents but never lead the rush). Defensively I can see Dorrington as a good third pair defenseman as he currently is the left side first pair at Northeastern.

His skating skills do need a lot of work but most bigger young defensemen struggle with their skating at this point of his career. For his sake, Dorrington needs to stay at Northeastern for his senior season and work on polishing his overall game.

In his debut as a Ranger prospect, Dorrington and his Northeastern Huskies traveled to play the sixth-ranked Maine Black Bears in Hockey East action. Dorrington was scoreless on two shots as Maine defeated Northeastern 3-1 to drop the Huskies’ record to 9-12-3 (3-8-3-2 Hockey East).

Gabe Perreault had a goal as number one Boston College shut out eighth-ranked UMass-Lowell 4-0 in Hockey East play. Perreault had a pass go in off his skate for Boston College’s second goal of the game.

Gabe’s skate puts us up 2-0!

Watch on @ESPNPlus | https://t.co/2SoJTL1Pgy pic.twitter.com/ZNj5zS9aTc

— BC Men’s Hockey (@BC_MHockey) February 1, 2025

He did not kick the puck in, so it was a good goal, Perreault’s ninth of the season. It was part of a two shot, +2 with of all things a boarding minor as Perreault improves his season totals to 9-23-32 which leads Boston College in scoring and is tied for seventh in the NCAAs.

Teammate Drew Fortescue had the primary assist on what proved to be the game winning goal as he set up Ryan Leonard for Boston College’s first goal of the game. Fortescue with the 0-1-1 on one shot with a +2 improved to 0-8-8 and he is the only Rangers prospect without a goal.

Ty Henricks had an assist as his third-ranked Western Michigan Broncos won their seventh straight 4-1 over Noah Laba’s Colorado College Tigers in NCHC play. Henricks earned the primary assist on the Broncos third goal of the game coming in the second period.

For Henricks the 0-1-1 came on a night when he did not record a shot but was a +1 as he improved to 2-4-6. For Noah Laba who was scoreless, he also was not credited with any shots but was a -1 and 11-8 on his faceoffs.

Hank Kempf snapped a 39-game goalless streak, but it did not prevent his Cornell Big Red from losing 2-1 to St. Lawrence in ECAC. I think everyone was so shocked at Kempf scoring for the first time since January 13th, 2024, that there was no description or video of the goal.

Kempf was 1-0-1 on three shots with a -1 as he improved to 1-4-5. The goal was Kempf’s third NCAA career goal in 118 career games but unless Cornell wins the ECAC tournament, they do not look like they are going to the NCAA tournament with their record of 8-7-5.

Rasmus Larsson scored his first NCAA goal and point, but his Northern Michigan Wildcats fell in overtime to 3-2. Larsson scored an even strength goal at 2:22 which tied the score at 1-1 when he snapped a shot just under the crossbar.

The first career collegiate goal for Ras is a beauty!#NMUwildcats | #CCHAhockey pic.twitter.com/hPksd1Rrxs

— Northern Michigan Hockey (@NMUHockey) February 1, 2025

With a shot like that one, I got to ask why Larsson doesn’t look more for his offense? It was the only shot that Larsson would take as he also had tripping minor.

E.J. Emery was scoreless as his 17th-ranked North Dakota Fighting Hawks played to a 3-3 overtime tie with St. Cloud State in NCHC action. Emery was credited with two shots and a +1.

Brody Lamb was scoreless as his fourth-ranked Minnesota Golden Gophers knocked off the 18th-ranked Wisconsin Badgers 5-2 in Big Ten play. Lamb has gone pointless in eight straight games despite being on the second line for Minnesota.

Nathan Aspinall was scoreless as his Flint Firebirds lost via the shootout to the Kitchener Rangers 3-4. Aspinall was not credited with any stats during regulation and overtime while missing on his shootout attempt.

Did Not Play

Zakary Karpa missed his second full game with what is being called an Upper Body Injury.