OHL North Bay Battalion

Battalion Looks to Lukin

Published on June 30, 2021 under Ontario Hockey League (OHL)
North Bay Battalion News Release


NORTH BAY, Ont. - The North Bay Battalion selected Russian defenceman Alexander Lukin with the 28th pick Wednesday in the Canadian Hockey League Import Draft.

Lukin, a six-foot-one, 200-pound left shot who turned 17 on March 27, played the 2020-21 season with the Chekhov Russkie Vityazi, a top-level junior club, scoring one goal and earning three assists for four points in 24 games with 10 penalty minutes. Chekhov is 68 kilometres from Moscow.

"Alexander is a guy that our staff and I have quite a bit of comfort with," said Adam Dennis, general manager of the Ontario Hockey League's Battalion.

"We watched a lot of his hockey from last season and had great conversations with him leading up to today. We're happy to have him.

"We really liked that he plays a complete game. He moves pucks with great efficiency and likes to use his frame in the defensive zone. He'll be a welcome addition to our back end."

North Bay had the 30th pick in the opening round, but two clubs passed before the Battalion's turn came. The Troops, who also held the nominal 93rd overall choice, which would have been 71st, passed on their selection in the second and final round of the process, which was conducted over the internet.

Lukin joins Matvey Petrov, a Russian right winger selected first overall last year, to form the Battalion's two-man import contingent.

Petrov played 58 games last season with the junior Moscow Krylya Sovetov, scoring 22 goals and adding 20 assists for 42 points. Petrov, who turned 18 on March 12, is a six-foot-one, 163-pound native of Gus-Khrustalny, 230 kilometres east of Moscow.

North Bay retains the OHL rights to Russian centre Matvey Guskov, who signed a three-year contract with CSKA Moscow of the Kontinental Hockey League last December. The Battalion has him on its overage import list, the reason the club chose only one player.

The Troops acquired Guskov on June 1, 2020, when they sent three OHL Priority Selection picks, all conditional, to the London Knights, with whom he played 62 games in 2019-20 before the coronavirus pandemic ended the season, scoring 16 goals and adding 14 assists for 30 points.

London selected Guskov in the first round of the 2018 CHL Import Draft. In 59 games as an OHL rookie, he had 12 goals and 18 assists for 30 points. The Minnesota Wild chose Guskov, who turned 20 on Jan. 30, in the fifth round of the 2019 National Hockey League Draft.

The OHL order of selection in the first round was the reverse of the lottery-generated opening-round order for the league's Priority Selection held June 4-5. For this year, the CHL Import Draft followed a snake format, with the selection order reversed in the second round.

The Baie-Comeau Drakkar of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League made Latvian defenceman Niks Fenenko the No. 1 pick. The Everett Silvertips of the Western Hockey League, which conducted a lottery to determine its order, then selected Finnish right winger Niko Huuhtanen second, and the Barrie Colts took Ukrainian rearguard Artur Cholach third.

The 60 clubs of the CHL, which rotate the order of priority among the OHL, QMJHL and WHL from year to year, named a total of 85 forwards, defencemen and goaltenders.

Check out the North Bay Battalion Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



Ontario Hockey League Stories from June 30, 2021


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central