Luoto, 25, who signed a one-year, two-way NHL/AHL contract as a free agent with the Blue Jackets on June 1, suffered a lower body injury in the preseason and missed the first 14 contests of the 2022-23 campaign. He has collected two penalty minutes in 16 career NHL games, all with the Winnipeg Jets during the 2019-20 season. He added two goals and six assists for eight points to go along with 22 penalty minutes in 29 games with the American Hockey League's Manitoba Moose between 2019-21.
The 6-3, 201-pound native of Tampere, Finland registered 35-26-61 with 66 penalty minutes and a cumulative +24 plus/minus rating in 175 career regular season games with Tappara and HIFK in Finland's top professional league, Liiga over five seasons from 2016-22. In 2021-22, he notched 9-5-14, 12 penalty minutes and was +8 in 27 games and added 8-9-17, 2 penalty minutes and was +10 in 14 playoff outings with Tappara. He led the club to the Liiga championship and captured the Jari Karri Award as the best player in the playoffs.
