With Erik Haula on the shelf, the Carolina Hurricanes today recalled Eetu Luostarinen from the AHL. He will presumably make his NHL debut on Thursday slotting into the fourth center slot with Lucas Wallmark moving up to the third line.
That the team decided to give Luostarinen a shot over possibly shifting players around and/or recalling a more experienced player like Clark Bishop says a lot about what the team thinks of the 21-year old Finnish center.
Luostarinen is off to a decent start with five goals and two assists in ten games and is getting favorable reviews for his all-around play. That is likely what made him the choice for a call up.
From watching him in preseason, Luostarinen reminds me a bit of Wallmark who he will replace on the fourth line but with a bit more size. I would not consider Luostarinen to be a dynamic or flashy playmaker, but he is mature for his age in terms of understanding the defensive responsibilities of the position and making good read/react decisions pretty consistently. That ability to not be a mess defensively is table stakes to play the center position in a depth role at the NHL level. I think the team’s hope is that Luostarinen will prove to be capable defensively. If that proves to be true, anything else is gravy.
I would expect Luostarinen and the fourth line to garner regular shifts early in the game, but depending on Brind’Amour’s read on his readiness and the score of the game, his ice time could be throttled back as the game progresses.
Luostarinen is obviously just short-term help until Haula returns, but sometimes young players with NHL aspirations are able to use unscheduled opportunities like this to seize a role. That plus watching a young player realize a dream of making the NHL makes Eetu Luostarinen worth watching on Thursday if he is in fact in the lineup.
What say you Canes fans?
1) Are you surprised that the team did not go with a known quantity like Clark Bishop?
2) To what degree do you expect Head Coach Brind’Amour to give Luostarinen regular ice time on Thursday versus just having him there as an extra?
Go Canes!
1) I was expecting Geekie to get a shot. He leads the team with 9 points in 10 games…. but is -10 in +/- ! He has been on the ice for about 29 goals even strength in 10 games. Wow! Some of that may be different line mates from last season but the number jumps out.
M
Luostarinan leads the Checkers in goals at 5 and is only -2. The combination of scoring and defensive statistics makes the move justifiable.
I think Bishop is about even plus/minus but hasn’t broken out in scoring yet.
2) My expectation is 6 minutes, but as you point out, that could go up or down depending on the flow of the game.
Lol I can’t add 9 and 10. Geekie has been on the ice for 19 goals against in 10 games, sorry!
And Bishop is -1 with 0 points on the year. Solid on D but hasn’t broken they on the scoreboard.
1) Not really surprised. Though unless Luostarinen is really impressive, I would expect that he gets 2-3 games and then Bishop is called up for Buffalo if Haula is still on the mend.
2) I was going to say 8 minutes, but Asheville is likely closer.
Luostarinen will surprise folks, he is a solid two-way player. Though I think the real opportunity is Wallmark’s. I expect that Dzingel and Necas will continue to be dangerous. While Wallmark is not as much of a goal-scorer as Haula he will provide his wingers with some excellent opportunities.
Something seems off with Bishop. Not sure what’s going on with him in Charlotte. They know what/who he is. Sounds like they may be impressed with Luostarinen and want to take a look. I hope he comes out aggressive because if he doesn’t he won’t see much ice time.
6 to 8 minutes sounds about right unless he is too passive and then it could be next to nothing.
Don’t take this the wrong way, but I don’t think it matters who we recall from the AHL this year because they will play limited minutes. We also don’t have any AHL players that are considered destined for the next level. We think some are destined, but nobody is a shoe-in. That said, I feel management’s philosophy on the AHL and it’s minor league system is different than it was under Rutherford/Francis.
If true, this philosophy may be based on the fact it’s a young man’s NHL, and so the AHL used to be an important place to develop your draft picks. However, nowadays the real good players destined for the NHL spend very little time in the AHL. That’s not to say minor league teams are a waste, we need them for players who may be diamonds in the rough, on a slower development track or for those like Priskie who enter the equation mostly developed and just getting used to the professional game. But fact remains, we all saw how dominant CLT was last year and of that Calder Cup team only one player was able to take the next step (Necas) for a 3rd line role. So it didn’t matter if the team disbanded, or if the AHL coach left, because what was really developed in the end? Necas was arguably destined for the NHL based on his raw skill, and while Vellucci may have played a hand in development and did a magnificent job banding together a group of young players, we sometimes overate AHL success as it does not equate to NHL success as much as we think. Especially in today’s NHL, the good players that crack NHL lineups usually leapfrog the American League, or spend very little time there.
First, I will say lfd has an interesting thesis which I will consider. But for now…
1. I am more surprised that Luostarinen was called up than that others were not called up, given Eetu’s limited time playing the North American game (although he has adjusted very well and very quickly to it). If there is a type of player who may be the exception to lfd’s thesis it could well be Eetu – a foreign player transitioning to the NHL using the AHL as short-term jumping off point or a longer term dev space (Necas).
One has to assume there are reasons why a grinder-type like Bishop and skill player like Geekie were not called up instead. Indeed, I am surprised it wasn’t Bishop – if there is a RBA-style center with NHL potential (given his time on NHL ice) it would be Bishop. And Geekie is well-known in the organization and they have to know where he is in his development – and he is just not there yet.
2. It won’t take a but a few shifts for RBA to be able to assess him for what he wants from a player – I would take the under on 8 minutes and think more like 6 minutes of TOI.
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I have watched a few Checkers games on AHLTV and I like Eetu’s play – he is a good playmakers, gets to the dirty areas, has a nice scoring touch, and forechecks well. He is definitely one of the pleasant surprises for a team that has been, so far, disappointingly “meh”.
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