‘He’s been phenomenal’: Lucchini thriving in first season with Iowa Wild

Des Moines — If you ask Iowa Wild head coach Brett McLean about Jake Lucchini, he will rave about the 28-year-old veteran forward.

“He’s been phenomenal.”

“He’s really been a huge leader for us on the ice.”

“He’s a big presence in our locker room.”

Keep in mind that this is Lucchini’s first season in the organization after signing with Minnesota on July 1 and getting assigned to Iowa on Oct. 1. Not only that, the season is young, and it’s not even the quarter mark yet.

That’s a lot of praise for a new player a month and half into a season. Yet, Lucchini’s body of work since his arrival to Iowa has warranted it. He has a team-leading six goals and is tied for second with 11 points through Iowa’s first 15 games this season.

“You have to be consistent in the league,” Lucchini told The Hockey News this past weekend, “and I feel like the older I’ve gotten, I’ve been able to kind of realize that and try to be as consistent as I can.”

Lucchini has proven it and has brought plenty of experience to Des Moines. It’s why he has such an important, influential role on the team already.

Lucchini spent the past two years with the Belleville Senators, Ottawa’s AHL affiliate, where he scored 39 goals and 104 points in 133 games for a .78 point-per-game rate. Before that, he played with the AHL’s Laval Rocket (2020-21) and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (2019-20) after four years at Michigan Tech.

But unlike those two previous stops, Lucchini received the news last season he hoped he'd hear at some point: an NHL call-up to the Ottawa Senators, which lasted 11 games and has been his only taste of NHL action in his career.

Lucchini's NHL debut with Ottawa came on Dec. 14, 2022, and he scored his first goal on Jan. 1, 2023.

“I got to kind of live that NHL day to day life,” Lucchini said. “Obviously you want to be there and it was really cool to get that experience, and I’m obviously looking for more of that.”

Since Iowa is his fourth AHL club, he’s been forced to get acclimated to new systems, playing styles and teammates. So, it’s easier for him — evidenced by his strong start — and he doesn’t have to change his game.

It hasn’t been smooth sailing for Iowa with new faces both behind the bench and in the lineup coupled with losing the likes of captain Dakota Mermis and Vinni Lettieri to extended recalls in Minnesota, and one of its top defenseman in Daemon Hunt has been back and forth between the Wild and Iowa so far this season.

Add in the fact that Sammy Walker (zero goals in 13 games) and Nic Petan (one goal) — who were first and third, respectively, last season in scoring — have struggled to put the puck in the net to start the year, which makes you wonder where the team would be right now without Lucchini.

Well, they got a taste of it last weekend against the Rockford IceHogs at home when Lucchini — who is a “sound player that gets it done,” Adam Beckman said — was out due to injury and watched Iowa lose both Saturday and Sunday, which ended Iowa’s three-game winning streak.

“Not having him in our lineup this weekend is a big loss because he’s the first name we call for every situation,” McLean told The Hockey News Saturday.

“The way we call it is he’s our (Joel Eriksson) Ek in that he’s the one that we put out in any big deep defensive situation, any big offensive situation.”

Lucchini said he enjoys playing a two-way game and in all situations because he doesn’t want to be a one-dimensional player like some are. His all-around game is something that the organization noticed in September.

“He opened a lot of people’s eyes in training camp in Minnesota,” McLean said of Lucchini, who had an assist in three preseason games in Minnesota.

Lucchini, an overthinker, isn’t as much of a goal setter as he once was, instead, he aims for year-over-year growth and a rising trajectory in hope of one day getting another shot at NHL action.

“I want to play in the NHL,” Lucchini says, “and just try to continue to grow my game in order to make that step if that opportunity comes.”

As for the transition from Belleville, Canada to Des Moines?

“I didn’t really know what to expect — (a) bigger city than I thought,” Lucchini said. “It’s got everything I need; I'm more of a small town kind of guy, and I kind of get that feeling (here).”

Well, Iowa didn’t know exactly how he would acclimate and mesh. It turns out, he’s everything the team needed.