Rochester, N.Y. (WGR 550) – It’s expected that some of the players that were with the Rochester Americans for the Calder Cup Playoffs will be with the Buffalo Sabres come next year.
There’s no question that Peyton Krebs and Mattias Samuelsson will advance to the NHL, but what about the likes of Jack Quinn, JJ Peterka, Casey Fitzgerald, Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen and Arttu Ruotsalainen?
“If you talk about Quinn and Peterka at their ages producing they way they did, it’s kind of unheard of. They’ve put themselves in great position to graduate to the NHL possibly, but that’s up to them," said Sabres assistant general manager Jason Karmanos during his end-of-season press conference on Friday. "They’ve got to come to camp and go through that, and in this offseason. build strength, continue to grow. But they’ve put themselves in really strong positions.”
Luukkonen had to battle through two injuries this season, but still played 44 games between Rochester and Buffalo. A hamstring injury kept him out for the playoffs, but had Rochester forced a Game 4 with the Laval Rocket, Luukkonen said he would’ve been ready to play.
Many, including myself, expect this to be the year that Luukkonen has to make the jump to the NHL. He’s 23-years-old, and Karmanos was frustrated that the kid almost got back to experience the playoffs.
"He was getting so close, which is one aspect of the disappointment for sure," Karmanos said.
The Amerks general manager says it’s going to be good for Luukkonen to get in a lot of work this summer to prepare him for the possible jump to the Sabres.
“This is the first offseason that he’s had maybe in three years, where he’s healthy going into the offseason, where he can focus on his training," Karmanos said.
“He needs to play games, and he played well when he was up top this year, where he really had a strong stretch of games. We’re going to make the decision that’s the best for him based on how he looks at camp, and where he can play the most.”
Luukkonen has had many injuries since being drafted in the second round of the 2017 NHL Draft. It’s something the club is looking into as to what he can do in the offseason to improve his chances of staying healthy.
“His work ethic is outstanding," said Amerks head coach Seth Appert. "He is still growing into his body, but a lot of guys that are 6-foot-5 are really skinny and gangly. But he’s pretty thick, and it’s good weight and he’s in great shape. But there is a period that he has to go through that being able to handle the weight that he’s at (217 pounds), and have the core strength and the coordination all connected together to try to give him the best chance to stay healthy.
“He’ll train with the strength coaches, but we have talked to him about yoga, which is something he’s looking into, because it’s really beneficial from a flexibility, core strength and mental standpoint. But I think it’s more getting to an age where his body is ready to carry the weight where he’s at.”
In Rochester this season, the young goaltender was 15-14-6 with a 3.28 goals-against average and a .900 save percentage. In Buffalo, he was 2-5-2 with a 2.74 goals-against average and a .917 save percentage.
Appert says when things got tight at the end of the season and Rochester had to win to get into the playoffs, Luukkonen excelled.
“I thought at the end of the season he looked like a dominant goaltender (4-2-2, 2.45 and .921)," he said. "He had the look and the swagger, and he was carrying himself the way I remember coaching against him in the World Championships when he was U18. He looked like a goalie that was ready to go on a run.”
It’s been tough on Luukkonen, and he’s been through a lot in his young career.
“I think that that adversity that he’s faced is going to strengthen his resolve moving forward,” Appert said.
The Sabres gave Luukkonen every opportunity to make the team out of training camp this past season, but he just didn’t play well. When he got back to Buffalo, he showed great improvement.
“It’s his habits and the consistency with how he played shots from different areas, and he got consistent with how he handled different shot situations," Appert said. "That allowed him to play on instinct and feel versus trying to think too much.”
When Luukkonen spoke after the season, you could tell he was down, because he said he was going to return to play had there been another game.
“It was really frustrating to be out for those games," Luukkonen said during his end-of-season press conference. "Especially since the injury happened in the last game of the season, and you play for those games.”
Luukkonen was able to watch all the playoff games this year, which he says gives him motivation for next season.
Luukkonen had so many ups-and-downs in both the AHL and the NHL.
“I feel like I had a good stretch in Buffalo this year, and I had a good stretch in Rochester. Now it’s building everything together and do your best in summer, and work on everything that you have to work on and give yourself a chance to be an NHL goalie next year," Luukkonen said.
It’s going to be very interesting to see how many of these young players will push themselves into Don Granato’s lineup.
“We’ve got to make sure guys are, in fact, ready and not jumping the gun and forcing that,” Karmanos said summing it all up.
After three seasons, the NHL Combine is back in Buffalo this week. COVID-19 kept it away the past two years. Players will be made available to the media on both Friday and Saturday.
