Carolina Hurricanes Prospects: Luke Stevens has Hockey Roots to Make it to the NHL
By Brett Finger
Between now and the start of the preseason, Cardiac Cane will preview every Carolina Hurricanes prospect as they enter the 2015-2016 season and what we expect from them in the coming year and beyond.
Player: Luke Stevens
Position: Left Wing
Date of Birth: February 11, 1997 (18)
Birthplace: Duxbury, Massachusetts (USA)
Height/Weight: 6’3″/195 lbs.
2015-2016 Team: Noble & Greenough School (U.S. High School)
Scouting Report:
"Stevens’ strength will always be his ability to win battles on the board, grind and kill penalties. He’s going to have to be a fourth line, physical-type player to make it at the next level. He has a scoring touch at times, but that’s not what he projects at the next level. (SB NATION COLLEGE HOCKEY)"
Son of former NHL star Kevin Stevens, young, big bodied forward Luke Stevens has good raw talent, but he hasn’t even gotten his high school diploma.
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Stevens has played the last 2 seasons at Noble & Greenough School in Dedham, Massachusetts. Since coming in as a sophomore, the young forward has continually impressed not only his peers and coaches, but also NHL scouts. He was drafted in the 5th round (126 overall) by the Carolina Hurricanes in the 2015 draft.
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In 2013-2014, Stevens tallied 22 total points in 28 games. He was a sophomore at that point. The following year, 2014-2015, he upped his numbers to over a point per game with 11 goals and 29 total points in 23 games with Noble & Greenough.
Luke Stevens is still very young, and it is pretty rare to be a high school kid that has already been drafted by an NHL club, but he has the hockey roots that suggests that he could make it to the NHL one day.
Luke’s father, Kevin Stevens, was a 874-games NHL veteran from 1987 through 2002. He, like his son, played on the left wing. He tallied 329 goals and 726 points in his 15-season NHL career. Stevens also spent four years as an alternate captain for the Pittsburgh Penguins and one year as an alternate captain for the Los Angeles Kings and New York Rangers.
Kevin Stevens was a two-time 100+ point scorer, tallying 123 points in 1991-1992 and 111 points in 1992-1993.
Kevin and his son Luke have similar builds. They both stand at 6’3″, and while Luke still has a lot of weight to gain an filling out to do, he still has an impressive frame at the age of 18. This makes him a dominant force on the ice, especially at the high school level.
Carolina Hurricanes
Luke Stevens has shown the offensive tough at times, but he remains to be more of a physical grinder type of player, not a player that will throw tons of points on the board like his father. He has offensive flair, but not many people expect that to translate to the professional leagues in North America.
He has committed to play his college hockey at Yale University, an Ivy League college in New Haven, Connecticut. He will be a freshman in 2016, setting him up for a four-year graduation in 2020. He will be 23 by the time he graduates, assuming he stays all four years.
Luke Stevens’ blend of size and reliability at the forward position makes him a legitimate prospect, but he is still very much a project player that is still very raw.
Down the road, Stevens projects to be a bottom-six grinding forward at the NHL level with some offensive touch at times. His size will make him a force in a limited role in pros.
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For now, the young forward will look to polish his game as a senior in high school before he heads off to the collegiate level in the fall.
Next: Wisniewski Set to be a Big Time Playmaker from the Blue Line