Kris Baker on Luukkonen, from his "Next Baker's Dozen" feature:
Luukkonen offers a drafting club a huge, athletic netminder that, with more coaching and technique refinements, has all the signs of developing into a legitimate No. 1 NHL goaltender.
He led HPK Jr and Finland's Junior League with a 1.78 goals-against average in the regular season and a 2.01 in the playoffs en route to a league championship. Internationally, Luukkonen backstopped Finland to a silver medal at the 2017 Under-18 World Championship. He's also represented his country at the 2016 Ivan Hlinka Memorial and at the 2016 Under 18s, where he was named to the tournament All-Star team after winning gold.
From his media availability in Chicago, courtesy of Sabres.com's Jourdon LaBarber:
"Of course it's a great situation to have when you know there's space for you to fit in," he said. "You know there's something to work for … I think it's a great situation for me."
Luukkonen describes himself as calm and level-headed, a trait he says he picked up from his parents. He saw his older brother and cousin playing goalie at a young age and fell in love with the position, all the way down to the pads and glove. He played goalie in street hockey for as long as he can remember, and was between the pipes on the ice by age 5 or 6.
He grew up watching Ryan Miller, although Pekka Rinne - another Finnish goalie - is his idol. He also has an affection, as most young Finns do, for Sabres defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen. He fondly remembers Ristolainen's golden goal at the World Junior Championship in 2014.