UConn picks up commitment from '06 defenseman Will McIsaac

UConn men’s hockey picked up a commitment from Will McIsaac, an ‘06 defenseman with the WHL’s Spokane Chiefs. He’ll join the Huskies next season.

A native of Vancouver, British Columbia, McIsaac is listed at 6-3, 205 pounds with a right-handed shot. He was taken in the fifth round of the 2024 NHL Draft, 145th overall, by the St. Louis Blues. McIsaac is regarded as a defensive defenseman.

"I'd say [I’m] definitely more stay at home, like a physical defenseman," McIsaac said to SWX Local Sports. "I like to be on the penalty kill, block shots, I like hitting guys. But I think my biggest part of my game is my hockey IQ, like just my ability to see the ice.”

From EliteProspects’ draft guide:

“McIsaac has the size and mobility of an NHL defensive defenseman. He’s a smooth mover who keeps up with fast-moving attacks, blows up the cycle with well-timed pokes, and flattens rushers who try to slip down the board.”

The captain of the Spokane Chiefs, McIsaac has seven goals and 25 assists in 63 contests on the current campaign while owning a +22 +/- to go along with 43 penalty minutes.

McIsaac is set to join a deep UConn defensive corps. After this season, the Huskies will lose Tom Messineo to graduation and Viking Gustafsson Nyberg will also draw plenty of interest from NHL teams, but they’re still set to return senior Owen Simpson, juniors Trey Scott and Kai Janviriya as well as sophomores Anthony Allain-Samaké, Brendan Dunphy and Kevin Fitzgerald.