Luchuk is one of the top undrafted players available in the CHL, from what I've gathered. He seems to be a late bloomer, he's already beaten his career best numbers in goals and is about to beat his best for points. He has a good chance to score over 50g & 100 pts this year. I had an earlier hunch that some other team would sign him and get a nice good player so I'm glad we've landed him.
Too bad Belleville will probably suck too much to use him this season.
Edit:
A little more I've gathered on Luchuk...
From an HF thread about him:
- "A small, speedy center…Luchuk seems to bring compete and a two-way game that could adapt pretty well to a bottom-6 role…
- Vancouver, Vegas and LA made inquiries into signing him..
And from an article/interview:
- Last year had a 53.9% face-off percentage; this year is around 60% (was at 59.8 after 17 games).
- Luchuk: "Penalty killing and playing defence is something I take extreme pride in. We have one of the top penalty kills this year. We had a record-breaking kill last year. I think a team who signs me gets a guy who can not only put a puck in the net but can also defend in his own end and shut down the other team’s top lines."
From the Spitfires season thread, my impression:
- Spitfire fans doubted Luchuk would be traded because he was such a key leader for their team (this was before he went on a tear and, presumably, increased his value substantially).
- Many felt he should be their “long”term captain.