Photo by Olivia Sala/Brampton Beast

William Proulx, OHA Communications Manager

BRAMPTON, ONT. - Aaron Luchuk’s junior hockey career began in the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League, and this past season was his first season of professional hockey. 

The 22-year-old forward split the 2018-19 between playing in the Ottawa Senators organization with the ECHL’s Brampton Beast and American Hockey League’s (AHL) Belleville Senators. Luchuk finished his first professional season with nine points in 27 AHL games and 22 points in 32 ECHL games. 

Luchuk’s path to the pros is unlike most, and it all began when the Kingston, Ont. native was selected 68th overall by the Windsor Spitfires in the 2013 OHL Priority Selection Draft after his Minor Midget AAA season with the Greater Kingston Frontenacs. Upon his selection, Luchuk spent the following season playing for the Spitfires’ GOJHL affiliate in LaSalle. 

“They (the Spitfires) felt it was best for me to play right there in their backyard in LaSalle,” said Luchuk of joining the Vipers in 2013-14. The team was located just 20 minutes from the Spitfires home base. 

While only with the Vipers for one season, Luchuk says then coach, Bill Bowler, had taught him a lot in his one-season stint. Bowler spent seven seasons as a general manager and head coach in the GOJHL with the Chatham Maroons and in LaSalle before moving onto become Windsor’s Vice-President of Hockey Operations in 2017.

“He put me in a position to play a lot of minutes in junior hockey, and I wouldn’t have got those minutes in the OHL,” said Luchuk adding, the increased role in LaSalle got him used to playing junior hockey and playing against older players as a 16-year-old. “That first year in LaSalle was definitely a huge stepping-stone in my career,” said Luchuk. Luchuk says that 2013-14 season with the Vipers not only got him used to play against bigger, tougher and older opponents but it got him used to the grind of the junior hockey schedule and it prepared him well for things to come. 

Luchuk’s first year of junior went as planned, and he posted 58 points in 46 games to finish third on the Vipers in scoring. In the 2014 playoffs, Luchuk and the Vipers advanced to the GOJHL conference finals where they were eliminated by the Maroons in four games. Luchuk had two goals, 10 points in nine playoff games to close out his Junior B career with LaSalle. 

Reflecting on his time with the Vipers, Luchuk said he built long-lasting friendships and he still stays in touch with a number of teammates from the 13-14’ LaSalle squad. “Obviously everyone is living their own life now and we are a lot older than we were then but we try to keep in touch the best we can.” 

Luchuk made the full-time jump to the OHL at season’s end in 2014 and played two playoff games with the Spitfires to close out the season. He says the only thing he noticed that was different from the OHL and Junior B, was the speed of the players at that time. 

His first full-time regular season taste of the OHL came in 2014-15 as Luchuk played 67 games with the rebuilding Windsor Spitfires who were then led by future NHL bench boss Bob Boughner. Of his first OHL season, Luchuk says it was a dream come true despite struggling at times.

“We didn’t have a great team that year. We were a young team and there were a lot of speed bumps. It was a good year, and I think everyone grew together. We had a group of young guys that stuck together until we won the Memorial Cup,” said Luchuk of a group that featured Logan Brown, Jalen Chatfield and others who eventually won the Memorial Cup in 2016-17. 

In year two, Luchuk’s points increased from 23 to 53, and he added 27 goals. He and the Spits lasted just five games in the OHL playoffs at the end of the season and Luchuk would enter his third OHL the following fall. 

Even though he prides himself as a two-way centre, Luchuk’s offensive totals increased yet again in his third OHL season as he posted 60 points. That season was the year Windsor hosted the Memorial Cup. The Spitfires finished fifth in the OHL’s Western Conference and were eliminated in seven games by the rival London Knights in the first round of the OHL playoffs. 

As the host, they earned a bye to compete for the Memorial Cup and even though they were eliminated weeks earlier, the Spitfires went on to win the championship that season. Of the experience, Luchuk said, “We really came together during our time off between playoffs and the Memorial Cup. We had two options. Either we were going to quit on ourselves and play in the Memorial Cup tournament and see what happens. . . [or work hard], but instead, every guy came into the rink every day and put their head down and went to work. . . The results spoke for themselves and we beat three league champions. We didn’t leave any doubt as to who was the CHL’s best team that year.”

Luchuk played just one more season in the OHL in 2017-18 and split it with the Spitfires and Barrie Colts. The veteran-OHLer had proven himself to the entire league and despite being moved to Colts midseason and going undrafted (NHL), Luchuk led the league in points with 115 points. 

That season he signed his first professional contract; a three year entry-level deal with the Ottawa Senators. Luchuk says seeing many of his teammates signed to NHL contract helped motivate him in his last year of junior.

 “It was pretty surreal when it happened. I couldn’t be happier, that’s for sure,” said Luchuk.

“My agent (Andy Scott), my family and I chose Ottawa because of the organizational depth that they had and the direction that their franchise is going. It’s a rebuild and they are really giving chances to young guys to improve and make their team. . . It’s a good organization to be a part of for a young guy like myself,” Luchuk said. 

In fall 2018 Luchuk took part in his first training camp with the Senators. Luchuk says his first camp was a “tremendous experience” and it was really cool to be able to play and compete with players he’s watched from afar his whole life. Luchuk adds that he learned a lot in his first pro camp from veterans like Matt Duchene and Mark Stone, who have since moved on to different NHL organizations. 

He once again got to play alongside longtime friend and teammate, Logan Brown, who he has played with since his first season in Windsor. Brown was a first round pick of the Sens in 2017 and has also spent time with the Belleville Senators with Luchuk. The two lived together this past season in Belleville and Luchuk says they’re both looking forward to being part of a bright future in Ottawa. 

Despite being initially demoted to the ECHL, Luchuk he says he took it in stride and compared the assignment to the Brampton Beast to when he was assigned to LaSalle in junior. Luchuk says if he had stayed with Belleville in the AHL he may have not had as many minutes as he would have liked and he ended up playing a bigger role with the Beast, which helped further his development at the professional level. 

Luchuk played his first AHL game with Belleville Dec. 12, 2019 and says he felt good about his game and it wasn’t as big of an adjustment as he thought it was going to be. 2018-19 was the first season Luchuk had dealt with injuries but he says looking back at the experience it was a “solid first pro season,” and he feels like he contributed well with both Brampton and Belleville. 

“I definitely know what I need to work on,” Luchuk said heading into the summer. He hopes to solidify a position in the AHL and at some point make the jump to the NHL next season. 

“If I continue to have a good summer and stay committed to my habits of getting better, I think I will have a real opportunity to show the people in Ottawa that I can play at the NHL level, whether it’s at the start of the year or end of the year.

In the 2019 NHL offseason, Luchuk was traded from Ottawa to the Toronto Maple Leafs as part of the Nikita Zaitsev/Cody Ceci deal. 

Luchuk credits his tremendous support staff of his father Greg, mother Louise, younger sister Myka, coaches, teammates and his agent for helping him get to this point in his career.