Luoto catching up to smaller ice surface

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This article was published 20/12/2019 (2087 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The numbers work right now for Joona Luoto, but that won’t always be the case.

Winnipeg’s young fourth-line winger has suited up in back-to-back home games against the Carolina Hurricanes and Chicago Blackhawks out of necessity, with forwards Mathieu Perreault and Andrew Copp on the mend.

Prior to that, Luoto played 16 consecutive games following a recall Nov. 7 from the Manitoba Moose of the American Hockey League but was a healthy scratch during a recent home-and-home with the Detroit Red Wings and a visit by the Philadelphia Flyers.

Give the 22-year-old Finn an A for effort and a C for satisfactory play during his time as a replacement player, particularly when the Jets — already down Mason Appleton and Mark Letestu — lost Bryan Little and Gabriel Bourque in early November.

Luoto had participated in just nine regular-season games on this side of the Atlantic, all with the Moose, before his first test with Winnipeg on Nov. 8. Yet to register an NHL point, Luoto’s struggles with the smaller rink and the responsibilities that come with working the boards in the defensive zone have been far more problematic than a lack of offence.

He’s the first to admit it’s been a trial by fire.

“There’s so much bigger rinks in Europe that you don’t have to do things like that there. It took me awhile, but I think I’m getting better at that, as well. You have to be ready to take those rims (around the wall) and be physical and be hard on the boards,” Luoto said following Friday’s practice.

“I think there is a whole lot more we can do and improve, but it’s getting better all the time. We are getting some offensive-zone time, but the goals haven’t come to us. But I think it’s coming pretty soon.”

Bourque and Appleton have slotted in on the third line with centre Adam Lowry, and the Jets have Jansen Harkins, one of the AHL’s top scorers, waiting in the wings after a recall Thursday. Harkins is the only extra body up front, and he looked every bit a 13th forward as the Jets ran drills at the Iceplex.

That means Luoto, a big body at 6-3, 195 pounds, likely stays in, alongside centre Nick Shore and Logan Shaw.

Jets head coach Paul Maurice seems comfortable sticking with the same lineup this afternoon in St. Paul, Minn., that couldn’t get the job done at home Thursday against the Chicago Blackhawks.

Winnipeg hopes to rebound from the 4-1 defeat to Chicago with a more complete effort against the Wild at Xcel Energy Center. Game time is 1 p.m. 

“I liked the six guys. They didn’t generate a whole heck of a lot… didn’t give up anything. I think they were kind of grinding. I think that’s the way those guys are going to look for a while, but there wasn’t anybody in that group whose play said they should come out,” Maurice said.

After signing a three-year entry-level deal in mid-June, Luoto drew attention at Jets development camp a few weeks later for his size and a willingness to muck in the corners. He showed he could protect the puck down low and charge the net, an area of his game honed during three seasons with Tappara of the Finnish Liiga.

But more seasoning under Moose head coach Pascal Vincent is likely required once Perreault and Copp return to the lineup in January. 

‘His game is getting better. He’s getting a little bit faster’– Jets head coach Paul Maurice on Joona Luoto 

“His game is getting better. He’s getting a little bit faster, that’s the area where he needs to improve. We’ve looked at our fourth line as serviceable, probably, through the first 15 that he’s been in,” Maurice said. “Is there enough there that he stays here? As long as he continues to improve, we’ll always look at that. But if we got healthy, that would be a decision we’d have to make.”

Harkins, who took the morning skate Thursday and then participated in his first NHL regular-season practice, doesn’t know when he’ll make his debut.

“I’m the extra right now, so it’s hard to know. When I’m in, I’m in,” said the 2015 second-round pick, who had seven goals and 24 assists in 30 games with Manitoba before the promotion. “Obviously, the legs are a bit nervous still, remembering how to skate out there. It’s getting better. The first day was really exciting and today was more business. It’s flying by.”

While he’s been to four Jets training camps and played a couple of pre-season games, the feel of regular-season hockey is a different animal entirely, said Harkins, the AHL’s player of month thanks to a red-hot November (4G, 20A in 15 games).

Maurice maintains he has a plan to get the 22-year-old from North Vancouver into the lineup.

 “He’s had a really good start,” Maurice said. “I like him as a player. What I like most about him is he’s worked really hard to improve his game and get here. He’ll get in when I think it fits the rest of the group. That’s the idea.”

jason.bell@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @WFPJasonBell