Wings Nation First Round Targets: Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen
By Nick Seguin
6 years agoUkko-Pekka Luukonen is a Finnish-born goaltender who is very athletic and models his play off of Pekka Rinne. He’s enjoyed success at every level of hockey, including the International level, and is now looking to add North America to his resume. He has a strong track record in both regular season play as well as the playoffs (not that the Red Wings will see those in a while) and is Europe’s top goalie prospect at this year’s NHL Entry Draft.
NHL CS RANKINGS
Projected to go 1st overall among European goalies.
THE STATS
As I said above, Luukonen has had success at every level of hockey so far and his stats back it up without taking much of a dip in the playoffs. At the International level, Luukonen was in net for Finland’s gold medal win at the World Junior Championships (as an underager) in 2016. He put up a solid .917 SV% and was named one of the team’s top-3 players in the tournament. This year, he led them to a silver medal, though his SV% took a bit of a dip to .899. In any case, he will be a good goaltender, though he will have to adjust to the North American game.
THE EYE TEST
“LUUKKONEN PLAYS AN EFFECTIVE BUTTERFLY STYLE AND DOES A GOOD JOB OF CONTROLLING REBOUNDS.”
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DOES HE FIT IN WITH THE RED WINGS?
After losing Tomas Nosek at last night’s expansion draft, the Detroit Red Wings need for a goaltender has been alleviated for the time being. Still, there’s a good chance that Mrazek won’t be with the Wings for long, so picking up another solid goaltending prospect might be a good idea. Luukonen, at 18-years-old, still has a lot of developing to do and could be ready for the Red Wings lineup by the time the team is ready to compete again. With the state this organization is in right now, particularly in the goaltending department, he has a chance to climb the depth chart relatively quickly. He’s very athletic and very fast, something that would be valuable behind the Red Wings slow defense.
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