Lucas Lessio: Getting To Know The Arizona Coyotes
Getting to know Lucas Lessio
Since Lucas Lessio got his second call-up from the Portland Pirates back on January 5th, he has steadily improved game by game.
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Although the team reassigned him during the NHL All-Star week on January 21st to give him more ice time, his recall on January 26th — just one week later — made it well worth the wait for the former second round pick. After being brought back to Phoenix again, he’s been here ever since.
Lessio scored his first NHL point on 1-1-15 versus the Ottawa Senators, when he assisted on a Mikkel Boedker goal — then netted his first NHL goal in the 6-1 loss to the Blackhawks just two weeks later. He followed that up with another goal against Columbus, and has been plugging along ever since.
He started his call-up as a fourth liner, but has really come into his own of late. Originally linemates with Brendan Shinnimin, B.J. Crombeen, and Lauri Korpikoski — just to name a few — he’s even seen time with captain Shane Doan and top center Antoine Vermette.
What impresses me about Lessio and his potential is his speed and grit, for an average sized player ( 6’1″, 206). He has had many occasions where he breaks through the defense and has a scoring chance, and he’s good at drawing a penalty on the opposing team.
Lesssio had ten goals and eight assists in 29 games while with the Pirates — and in the previous season with Portland, Lessio had great numbers. Can he translate last season’s 29 goals and 25 assists to the NHL level?
How did he get here?
Lessio was the 56th overall draft selection, taken in the second round of the 2011 NHL Entry Draft.
He was taken after an impressive OHL season with the Oshawa Generals, which saw him tally 27 goals and 27 assists for 54 points — to go along with 66 penalty minutes. In 10 playoff games, Lessio scored 5 goals and 4 assists, then played for Team Orr at the 2011 CHL Home Hardware Top Prospects Game.
After getting drafted, Lessio returned to Oshawa for another OHL season after attending camp with the Coyotes — and was the General’s second-leading scorer, behind only New York Rangers prospect Christian Thomas. Lessio scored 34 goals (with nine coming from the man advantage alone), adding 28 assists for 62 points in 66 games, once again adding a healthy 71 penalty minutes.
Oshawa finished third in the East Division, although they made an early first round exit to OHL playoff finalists Niagara. Lessio held his own, though, scoring 3 goals and adding 2 assists to go with his 6 penalty minutes in the six game series with the Ice Dogs. He signed a three-year entry level contract with the Coyotes in September, 2012.
Lessio made his pro hockey debut with the Coyotes’ AHL affiliate in Portland that following year, after his third OHL season with Oshawa wrapped up.
In five AHL regular season games he scored 1 goal with 1 assist and had an even plus/minus with 4 penalty minutes. The Pirates finished second in the Atlantic Division, but were swept by the Eastern Conference champions — Syracuse Crunch — in the first round, losing two of the three games in overtime. Lessio skated in all three playoff games, though, and was +1 with 2 assists. He had only recorded 19 goals and 34 points with the Generals that season, although that had more to do with him only skating out in 35 OHL games — missing much of the season and an opportunity to represent Canada in the World Junior Championship due to a hand injury. In nine playoff games for the Generals, he scored 1 goal with 2 assists and was -2 with 20 penalty minutes.
Lessio is an offensively gifted winger with good speed and puck skills. He has an athletic build and possesses the ability to play either a power game or a finesse one.
Who’s his competition to remain with Arizona?:
Lessio has shown he has a legitimate shot at earning an NHL roster spot.
His stiffest competition will come from Henrik Samuelsson or Max Domi. Both centers could be slid over to wing if they are the best players available, although Lessio’s demonstrated ability to produce against men should initially give him an advantage in the internal competition. With the recent acquisition of Mark Arcobello off waivers, a line combo of Lessio, Arcobello, and Sam Gagner has some real potential.
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