Prospect Info: Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen (2017, 54th)

Honestly, you never know. I’ve been watching a lot of Carter Hart with the Flyers and he’s been unreal. He’s literally carrying that team into a playoff hunt. So impressed.

Carter Hart - 48th overall - 2016
UPL - 54th overall- 2017

 

We’ve made some moves at the deadline to make it as good as possible for him . The team will go as far as he can bring us

 

Is it really like that? He’s carrying the load and not getting help elsewhere?

 

i read when 6k was at WJC they went 0-7 or something without him.

 

He’s already the team MVP . There’s some nights where he doesn’t have to steal the show but when we play the top team it’s always he wins the game or we lose the game . Most nights he’s winning them

 

We went 0-6-1 without him during the world juniors yes

 

Definitely.

I just think that any real projections about his future are premature. At this point, he looks promising. But, I wouldn't project him to end up like Noronen, Biron, Miller, or Hasek.

Let's just hope that he makes the jump to the AHL next season and he can be a solid #1 there.

 

After the last month of goaltending if it's a quick OHL playoffs I would love to see him get a look-see if we have the roster spot and start next season in Roch.

 

He wasn't listed as either goalie for Sudbury last night. Did he get injured?

 

Quick UPL update:

Ukko was scratched Friday against Flint with an illness. He was back in net yesterday and stopped 32 of 34 in our 3-2 win vs Niagara (we outshot them though!)

Ukko is now clearly the top goalie in the league.

2nd in Wins (29)
1st in SV% (.922)
1st in GAA (2.39)
1st in Shutouts (5)

The team is playing much better around him of late too, as we've won 8 straight and 12 of 14 since his return from the World Juniors.

For those of you from the Buffalo area who want to watch him, the Wolves play @ Niagara next Sunday, but tickets are supposedly limited.

 

Thanks for the update. Would he be 1st in wins if he didn't go to WJC or did whoever is in 1st go to WJC also?

 

Went to my first wolves game of the season yesterday and man o man that is Ukko’s barn now. They’ve gone Ukko crazy in Sudbury. There was also a pretty big Finnish contingent at the rink but anytime he touched the puck the crowd went wild. The must have played like 5 or 6 interviews with him during the intermissions and they’ve got their Ukko-Pekka chants. It was fun to see.

Hopefully we can be that Ukko crazed in Buffalo soon

 

I almost feel bad that us in Rochester are gonna be prying him away from them next season, not THAT bad though.

 

Hopefully that offsets the talent Buffalo pries away from you guys by the trade deadline.

 

He would likely be first in wins. We played like crap all around during that 0-6-1 stretch, but I think we'd have maybe won 2 or 3 of those with Ukko, who is only 1 win behind Cedrick Andree on Ottawa, who was not at the WJC.

 

That's the second time we've done the Finnish anthem prior to the Canadian anthem for him too (first was during his return from the WJC where we had a fun pre-game ceremony for him).

Sorry about your Ice Dogs last night , though I'm sure we'll see each other in the 2nd round of the playoffs. Would be a wicked series.

Haha I'll miss him, I haven't loved a Wolves player this much...probably ever. That being said my preference is for him to make the next step. He's too good for this league. I want him to be a dominant NHL stud asap (and I'm a Wings fan, lol).

We've treated him like a king here, and he has deserved it to be fair. The dude and his agent are going to give us great references for future import players we want to bring over.

 

It’s excitng to read about UPL’s development this season. Can’t wait to see how he does in Rochester next year.

Thanks for the updates everyone!

 

Ukka stops 34 of 36 tonight leading the Sudbury wolves to a 5-2 win over our northern rivals the North Bay battalion . That win pushes us to first in the division and second in the conference. He’s getting better and better and quite frankly he’s gonna carry this team far into the playoffs . That being said he’s clearly proven to be above this level . And as said above we are very Ukka crazy , he’s treated amazingly here and loved all around . Ukka!!!!

 

It would be awesome for him to be the real deal.

Excited to see the wolves playoff run

 

When he really takes off, what do we call ourselves? Pekkaheads?

 

The wolfpekk

 

6K is such a great nickname.

 

Ukko-holics or Pekka-maniacs

Pekka-Chus

Pekka-Chosen

 

Is he our best prospect? So far he's doing about as well as you could have reasonably hoped for (for a goalie prospect), Goalies are so weird man, so hard to project.

 

Probably, at this point. There isn't a single thing he could have done this season to improve his standing more in our rankings.