Joaquim Lemay: 2023 Annual Review And Forecast

Posted on April 25, 2023 by Jon Sorensen


Next up in our annual prospect review and forecast series for the 2023 off-season is Joaquim “Jo” Lemay, defenseman for the Nebraska-Omaha Mavericks. (You can access all of our Capitals Prospect Reports and player analysis on our “Prospects” page right here.)

VITALS

Lemay, 20, is a 6’-1” left-handed defenseman from St-Pierre-les-Becquets, Quebec. The Capitals selected Lemay in the fourth round (119th overall) of the 2021 NHL Entry Draft. He was the only player selected in the 2021 NHL Entry Draft from the BCHL. He remains unsigned by the Capitals.

CAREER SUMMARY

Lemay was a relatively late bloomer, who did not follow the conventional path that elite Quebec hockey players typically follow, playing for Estacades de Trois-Rivières in the famous midget AAA league. Instead, Lemay played for St. Joseph’s Seminary in the School Development Hockey League (LHPS) until he was 16 and then moved to the United States to play for Mount St Charles Academy. After that, he moved to the British Columbia Hockey League (BCHL) to play with the Salmon Arm Silverbacks.

Lemay’s 2020-21 season with the Silverbacks was a six-week long “Pod” season due to the pandemic. Lemay played in 15 games and recorded 10 points, all assists. The 10 assists ranked second among rookies playing in the league. During the extended training camp, Lemay scored one goal and five assists in 13 games.

Lemay is the first player the Capitals have selected from the BCHL since they drafted defenseman Keith Seabrook in the second round of the 2006 draft, who played with the Burnaby Express. If Lemay ends up playing for the Capitals, he will join fellow notable BCHL alumni Ryan Walter, Joe Murphy and Justin Schultz, among others.

Lemay was named an alternate team captain for the Lincoln Stars to start the 2021-22 season and was named the defensive player of the week on October 13. Lemay began the season on the top pairing but was relegated to the 3LW position by the 6th game of the season and played a majority of the final games of the season on the right side of the second pairing. Offensively, he recorded nine goals and 37 assists in 58 regular season games and added two assists in three postseason games.

The 2022-23 season was Lemay’s freshman year at Nebraska-Omaha. With the exception of a mid-season injury, Lemay was a stalwart of the Mavericks blueline, playing in 32 games out of the team’s 37 games. He scored two goals, recorded 10 assists, made 35 shots on goal, and blocked 20 shots. On March 8 The National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC) announced its 2022-23 All-Rookie Team on Tuesday, with five different teams represented on the six-man squad. Capitals defensive prospect Joaquim Lemay and fellow Nebraska-Omaha blueliner Jacob Guevin were the two defensemen selected to this years team.

2022-2023 MONTH-BY-MONTH RECAP AND TREND ANALYSIS

The following is a compilation of our month-by-month prospect reports for Jo Lemay during the 2022-2023 season. Also included are his monthly scores (0-5, with 2.5 being average). You can find all of our monthly prospect reports on our “Prospects” page in the top menu.

OCTOBER

Lemay has played in all eight games so far this season for Omaha-Nebraska. The 19-year old potted his first career NCAA goal on October 21.

Offensively, Lemay has a goal and an three assists in the eight games played, and has been starting on the left side of the third defensive pairing for the Mavericks.

Monthly Score: 3.0

NOVEMBER

Lemay played in eight games during November. He did not score any goals but recorded one assist. He has played in 14 games for the season, scored one goal, and recorded four assists for the season. 

He is also -2 for the season. He has made 17 shots on goal and has blocked six shots for the season.

Monthly Score: 2.5

DECEMBER

Lemay played in two games during December (December 2 and 3). He did not score any goals in either of those games but recorded assists in both games. On December 2, he had an assist on a power play goal that occurred at 4:43 in second period. It put the team up 3-0. On December 3, he had the primary assist on the team’s first goal that Jake Pivonka scored at 2:04 during first period.

However, Lemay missed both games the weekend of December 9 and 10 and missed the games of December 30 and 31 that took place after Christmas. It is suspected there is an injury involved as he had performed well before his layoff.

Lemay has played in 16 of the team’s 20 games, has scored one goal and recorded six assists. He had 19 shots on goal and has blocked nine shots for the season.

Monthly Score: 2.5

JANUARY

Lemay played in five games in January. He returned to the lineup for the team’s games against Minnesota Duluth on the weekend of January 13 and 14, after missing four games due to injury.

In the game on January 13 against Minnesota-Duluth at home, Lemay had the primary assist on the team’s first goal, which came on a power play at 11:37. The goal put Omaha ahead 1-0. This was his seventh assist of the season for Lemay. The Mavericks won the game 3-2 in overtime, with Jake Pivonka scoring the game winning goal in Overtime

In a 2-0 win against Miami of Ohio, Lemay assisted on the team’s second goal which was a power play tally at 19:35 into third period.

With 24 seconds left in regulation, sophomore forward Cam Berg added the insurance goal when he fired home a shot into the empty Miami net while on the power play. Berg’s empty net tally was assisted by Jo Lemay.

Lemay has played in 21 of the team’s 26 games, scored one goal and recorded eight assists. He has 23 shots on goal and has blocked 12 shots.

In the month of January, Scott Wheeler ranked him as #13 among Capitals prospects.

Monthly Score: 2.5

FEBRUARY

During the month of February, Lemay played in five games for the University of Nebraska-Omaha Mavericks. In a 6-2 win against St Cloud State on February 25, he earned the secondary assist on the team’s second goal. The goal put his team ahead 2-0.

Lemay has played in 27 of the team’s 32 games, scored one goal and recorded nine assists. He has 31 shots on goal and has blocked 16 shots.

The Mavericks finish their regular season against the North Dakota Fighting Hawks in North Dakota on March 3 and March 4. They play in the Quarterfinals of the National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC) playoffs from March 10 through March 12.

Monthly Score: 2.5

MARCH

During the month of March, Lemay played in five games for the University of Nebraska-Omaha Mavericks, which included the last two regular season games and the three games of their NCHC Quarterfinal playoff series against North Dakota.

On March 3, in their penultimate regular season game against North Dakota, Lemay had the secondary assist on the team’s second goal which came at 9:28 during the third period, cutting the deficit to 3-2. They ultimately lost 5-4.

Lemay scored the team’s first goal on March 11 at 12:24 in first period on the power play in a game they ultimately lost 2-1. At the time, it tied the game at 1-1.

On March 8 The National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC) announced its 2022-23 All-Rookie Team, with five different teams represented on the six-man squad. Capitals defensive prospect Joaquim Lemay and fellow Nebraska-Omaha blueliner Jacob Guevin were the two defensemen selected to this years team.

While the Mavericks won the first game of their Quarterfinal series against North Dakota, they lost their next two games, which ended their season.

Lemay’s final statistics for 2022-23 were: played in 32 games out of the team’s 37 games, scored two goals, recorded 10 assists, made 35 shots on goal, and blocked 20 shots.

Monthly Score: 3.0

MONTHLY SCORE SUMMARY


PLAYER FORECAST

Lemay’s freshman season went well, as noted by his end of season honors. Lemay will look to begin taking more of a leadership role in his sophomore campaign, and should find a steady spot in the Mavericks top two pairings.

By Jon Sorensen

RELATED ARTICLES
Capitals Blueline Prospect Joaquim Lemay Selected To 2023 NCHC All-Rookie Team

About Jon Sorensen

Jon has been a Caps fan since day one, attending his first game at the Capital Centre in 1974. His interest in the Caps has grown over the decades and included time as a season ticket holder. He has been a journalist covering the team for 10+ years, primarily focusing on analysis, analytics and prospect development.
This entry was posted in News and tagged , , . Bookmark the permalink.

3 Responses to Joaquim Lemay: 2023 Annual Review And Forecast

  1. Prevent Defense says:
    April 25, 2023 at 5:52 pm

    Good Day Jon and NovaCapsFans

    Thanks so much for the enlightening analysis of prospect Jo Lemay! I hope the talented young lad makes his way first to Hershey then to Washington

    While we’re evaluating Caps prospects – please comment on these two “Gut check” playoff series:

    1) TOR is giving fits to TBL, unexpected to many NHL fans and pundits. TBL had some huge territorial advantages in first four games. But TOR pulled out 2 high heart-attack victories in overtime. Let us know if any of this is a surprise to you

    2) NJD roars back with two wins against Big Blue in MSG. An unexpected turnaround? Or maybe the two teams really are even.

    Tenacity of both TOR and NJD perhaps instructive to next season’s Caps. Thank you.

    Reply
    • novafyre says:
      April 25, 2023 at 8:31 pm

      I am not surprised by the Bolts. They too have aged and a number of players are out or playing injured. I think the final last year showed their age. Vasy has also been very human this year. Any team who relies too much on one superstar player (Caps, Pits, Bolts) isn’t going to be successful in the long run. And this year’s Bolts, after last summer’s losses, just hasn’t gelled as the previous ones did. Salary Cap has hurt. I thought the series would go to 6 or 7 but still expected Leafs to prevail unless they really choked.

      Tampa announcers and analysts have been impressed by Sammy. All comment on his giving abundant rebounds, but generally they are giving him high marks.

      Reply
  2. Anonymous says:
    April 25, 2023 at 7:26 pm

    Lemay was possibly our best defensive prospect in the college ranks this season. Yet so little heard about him.

    Reply

Leave a Reply