Jake Lucchini Excited to make Wild debut tonight vs Bruins
Wild forward Jake Lucchini will make his Wild debut tonight against the Boston Bruins.
ST. PAUL - The Wild signed Jake Lucchini to a one-year contract on July 1st and have watched the 28-year-old forward record nine goals and 20 points in 24 games for the Iowa Wild.
Lucchini currently leads the Iowa Wild in goals and is second on the team in points behind Nic Petan. The former Michigan Tech standout was signed by the Pittsburgh Penguins after his senior year and put up six goals and seven points in 15 AHL games for the Penguins AHL affiliate which had Bill Guerin as the General Manager.
Guerin, now the GM and the President of Hockey Operations with the Wild, signed Luchhini on a one-year deal before the season started. The 6-foot forward has one goal in 11 career games in the NHL.
The undrafted forward will make his Wild debut tonight against the Boston Bruins on a line with Marcus Foligno and Marco Rossi.
"I'm really excited. It's something that I've been looking forward to if the opportunity presented itself and it did," Lucchini said after morning skate. "I couldn't be more excited to get going."
The focus for Lucchini is to play a simple game. He wants to get pucks in and pucks out and do the best he can while keeping it simple and if a chance to score comes he hopes to see the red light shine behind the net.
Down in the AHL this season Lucchini purchased an ESPN Plus subscription so he could watch Wild games when he could so he could be prepared for a call-up if it even happened but ESPN Plus for some reason blacks out Wild games even in Iowa and Chicago so the 28-year-old hasn't been able to watch many Wild games this year.
He's watched a few games though and it's helped when he is on the road because the Wild games usually aren't blacked out. He won't have to worry about watching them tonight though.
John Hynes wasn't with the Wild during training camp or preseason but one of his assistants, Pat Dwyer started the year in Iowa with the AHL team and has been around Lucchini for a while.
"Talking with management and obviously Pat and those guys, Dwyer was with him in Iowa but he plays a fast game," Hynes said on Lucchini. "He's got good speed, really good hockey sense, good offensive instincts, competitive on the puck, they said he's a tenacious skilled player so that's good to hear. He's had a good year so far in Iowa so I'm excited to see him get in tonight."
The Wild called up Lucchini on an emergency basis last game with Ryan Hartman's status against the Montreal Canadiens in question but decided to play seven defensemen and 11 forwards rather than play Lucchini.
But tonight Lucchini will get in and make his Wild debut and he's excited to show off his skillset and hopefully help the Wild win a very important game against the Bruins.