Owls' Quick Draft Hits: Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen
A quick disclaimer before I start: it’s backstop week this week, and as some of you know, I don’t typically focus on sieve goaltender evaluations. Not only are the keepers of the crease hard to evaluate and project as eighteen year olds (at least to my un-goaltending-trained eyes), but netminders are also prone to be drafted in runs and slumps because there’s so few of them compared to skaters, their purpose in games changes a lot depending on team structure, playstyle, and systems (look at goaltenders who handle the puck a lot compared to those who almost never leave the crease) and traits that might seem important to one team can be irrelevant to another – all of these things mean that tendies are very different than other prospects, not just in how they’re evaluated (which is obvious considering how hockey works on a basic level), but even in terms of projecting where they’ll be drafted in absolute terms and in play-style comparables.
That being said, there’s a strong crop of goaltenders this year (including a couple very good overagers), so at least some of them deserve to be covered. There’s also a lot of prospects at very similar skill level once you get past the consensus top prospect of Jake Oettinger (and even his consensus is incredibly shaky), so four highlights isn’t really enough to give the group justice. If you’re really interested in the position, you should 100% do your own research: In Goal Magazine has tons of great goaltending specific info and will (I assume) be releasing a ranking/report for draft eligible goaltenders at some point pre-draft like they’ve been doing for years, and articles for specific players litter the internet if you google their names. Additionally, if there’s anyone you’re particularly interested in, I might come back to the position in the future and cover some requests.
#Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen: HPK U20 (Jr. A SM-Liiga)
We’re going to start with the goaltender with the most recognizable name in the draft this year (unless you like former NHL names, whether they’re actually related to NHLers -- Cayden Primeau -- or not -- Michael DiPietro): the guy with six ‘k’s. A 6’4” monster of an eighteen year old, Ukko-Pekka is the highest ranked European goaltender by NHL central scouting this season (among first time eligibles – Vladislav Sukhachyov and Daniel Marmenlind both deserve consideration here but don’t count), backstopping HPK U20 to the Jr. A championship this year with solid stats. In the past, he’s been a solid goaltender for Finland’s national team and has played at a high enough level to win multiple awards in those tournaments and in regular season play.
Technically, Luukkonen’s a very modern goalie, in the style of Braden Holtby or James Reimer – he moves well, using great post-to-post speed, good edge control, and solid game-sense to be correctly positioned for every shot so that he never needs to make the highlight reel save: scrambling to get anything in front of the puck is always plan D. That’s not to say he lacks athleticism: he’s adept at finding pucks that squeak out of his pads, his rebound response shows amazing quickness with excellent puck sense, he recovers from saves (going into/out of butterfly) rapidly, and his hands are active to take away the top corners (though they aren’t at the elite level that his legs are). He’s also a good puck-handler who can make the first pass to a defensemen and even land two-line breakaway passes if he gets the opportunity.
Mentally, Luukkonen’s a very patient goaltender, crucial for breakaways and the shootout, staying in the shooting lane while he retreats towards the goal line, and the calmness that any goaltender needs to stay in the zone while there’s traffic and chaos in the crease is present here. His tournament history suggests that he can stay composed and focused in high-pressure situations, and he seems to be resilient to blow-outs.
As I mentioned in my preface, goaltenders are hard (for me) to project, but UPL has the size every team wants and the foundation to be a legit NHL starter if he continues to improve. Stylistically, I’m finding a couple people who’ve compared him to Pekka Rinne, which seems lazy (because people love to compare prospects to other players from the same country, although with goaltending it’s a little more reasonable for reasons I can get into if someone's curious) – especially since the glove hand is one of Rinne’s biggest assets, and it’s one of Luukkonen’s few flaws at this point. I think Luukkonen is more like Mike Smith, who plays deeper in his crease and primarily uses his shoulders to take away the top of the net.
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Posted May 27, 2017, 6:53 PM UTC · edited