Getting a kid from Guelph helped last time, so why not go for it again?
Analysis:
There’s something about Guelph these days.
The Storm lost Matthew Poitras to the Boston Bruins last season for good, and it cast a lot of doubt on how their season was going to go without his involvement. Who would step up for a player who did so much for them?
Enter Jett Luchanko, who did a little bit of everything, and lead the team in points.
Luchanko may be a bit undersized, but concerns about that sort of melt away when you realize you have to catch him, and catching Jett Luchanko is a tough ask. Luchanko’s speed is top notch; having topped out the CHL’s top prospects game in sheer speed among all players invited, and earning that reputation of skating prowess well with strong, tight strides that allow him to just explode off of mere drifting into a full blinding sprint at the drop of a hat, particularly finding extra speed coming out of turns and cuts, which can make defending him a real headache. Especially considering he’s the man trying to create chances for Guelph.
If Luchanko can’t bring it to the net, he’s usually creating the pass that gets it there; able to see the offensive side of the ice very well, identify passing lanes as they open and then squeak the puck through, or gathering the puck in order to keep plays alive through quick, soft passes. Even better, his lack of fear means he’s more than willing to do this not just on the rush, but also with a player/players directly in his face; something he also very much likes to do, find space by drawing backcheckers to him and then dish it off to a now wide open player for a scoring chance.
So you’d think with all this playmaking and speed, that he’d be some form of water bug power play merchant, right? Wrong!
Luchanko’s defense is actually pretty solid for a junior player, and it had to be; with Poitras out of Guelph, he was asked to develop a 200 foot game and quickly, which he did with aplomb; using that impressive agility and speed to slam lanes shut, putting in the work to come break down plays either with speed or with dogged tenacity, that complete lack of fear of larger players helping tremendously because he knows he can not only get the puck out of danger with his stick, but the turn out from the pile can be a major danger to the opponent for a transition chance.
So what’s got him all the way down in the late first? Well, Luchanko’s offensive creativity comes from his skating ability and his passing…but not his shooting. His shooting on the other hand is a consistent criticism; he prefers net-front scrambles and backhanders in close or one-time shots, and is rarely going to use his hands for anything more. He doesn’t have bad hands necessarily, just a heavy bias for passing first and shooting down low. Personally? I like when players recognize the single most dangerous part of the ice. It makes me think they were raised right, but I understand the concern if his offensive output generally relies on his wingers being lights out shooters while he ends up merely a setup man, or that he might struggle to really find chances to score for himself.
Another more pressing criticism for fans would likely be his face-off percentage, which has trended below 50% through his draft year. Current scholarship on the subject of face off wins doesn’t necessarily suggest it’s a major factor in games, but given how frequently it came up as a negative for Boston, I wouldn’t be shocked if it became a point of emphasis for the young man if he were drafted.
And of course…he’s still a good 20 to 30 pounds of muscle away from being what we’d call “safe” to play NHL hockey at his height. There are guys who can make it work, and he definitely plays like he could be, but that’s not a guarantee.
Frankly, if you can bulk him up and try to summon more than just some playmaking out of him, I think Jett Luchanko would make a great Boston Bruin. He’s got the 200-foot game that we like to see here, he efforts hard just about every game, and his slight disadvantage in height seems to be no issue for him.
It worked with Poitras, so why not go get his buddy now that he’s available?
Rankings
- Ranked 34th by ELITEPROSPECTS.COM
- Ranked 26th by TSN/BOB McKENZIE
- Ranked 18th by TSN/CRAIG BUTTON
- Ranked 30th by THN’s Tony Ferrari
- Ranked 21st by MCKEEN’S HOCKEY
- Ranked 18th by FLOHOCKEY/CHRIS PETERS
- Ranked 32nd by FCHOCKEY
- Ranked 36th by DailyFaceoff
- Ranked 20th by NHL Central Scouting (NA Skaters)
- Ranked 44th by Draft Prospects Hockey
- Ranked 24th by SportsNet’s Cosentino
- Ranked 33rd by RECRUIT SCOUTING
- Ranked 29th by DOBBERPROSPECTS
- Ranked 27th by SMAHT SCOUTING