This weeks Monday Movers are focusing on two players named Luke. Other than their names, they have little in common; one being an ’06 forward out of Georgia and the other being an 6’5″ defenseman out of North Vancouver, British Columbia.
Luke Goukler (LW, L, 5’11”, 173, Cushing Academy, 08/11/2006, Merrimack) – Luke played his 14U, 15U and 16U hockey in Nashville for the Jr. Predators. He made his first splash on our radar in the 2021-22 season where he helped lead his team to Nationals and earned a high grade at that event and was ranked in our NZ Top 300 for the 2006s heading into the USHL Draft at 153rd ranked and 3.5 star. He went undrafted that year but would return the following season to Nashville where he led his team with 55 goals and 41 assists for 96 points in 57 games. That was almost double what the next highest scorer on his team produced. After being passed up the year before in junior league drafts he was selected in the 5th round of the Phase I USHL Draft and late rounder in the NCDC Draft. Luke decided to attend Cushing Academy (MA), a hockey powerhouse in the New England Prep School league, playing for longtime NCAA coach Paul Pearl. This past weekend, Luke was called up to the US National Development program and without a single game of junior hockey experience, was in the lineup against NCAA D1 college teams. He scored a goal against Cornell on a backdoor pass from Hutson and earned a high grade from our scouts in the game. Goukler earned a B+ grade this summer at Select 17s and we had him on the bubble for the Hlinka team so he’s gone from a relative unknown at bantam, to undrafted in the USHL his first draft year to now being called up on the National team when they needed an extra skater. An impressive climb in a short period of time for the late ’06 and he looks primed for a big season at Cushing Academy this winter.
Luke Ashton (D, L, 6’5″, 230, Langley Riverman, 01/21/2005) – Our first report on Luke Ashton was in the fall of 2019 at the Rocky Mountain Classic; one of the top bantam showcases for the WHL Draft. He earned a B+ grade for his performance in the event, anchoring in the Burnaby Winter Club blue line and went on to be ranked in our 2019-2020 Top 300 WHL Draft Rankings at #99. With that being, much of his appeal was his size and long term upside but he was certainly raw at the time both in his skating, puck handling and positional play. His midget season was COVID where they didn’t play and so he essentially went from Bantam hockey to Junior A with the BCHL and his first two seasons he was primarily a depth defenseman who could kill penalties with his long reach and play a shut down role. In two seasons he played 81 games and had 2 goals, 7 assists and 9 points. However, just today, we watched him play live at the BCHL Showcase in Seattle, WA and the 6’5″ defender was a force in all areas; he played power play, he killed penalties and cleared pucks out, he broke pucks out, won battles, held the offensive blue line, threw his body around and has become a more well-rounded prospect. Sure he’s still a bit raw in his transitions and isn’t going to make forecheckers miss but his footwork and range have noticeably improved which has allowed him to play a more aggressive, physical style and was quite effective in his first game of the showcase. An intruiging prospect who will certainly draw attenion from NCAA/WHL/NHL scouts in attendance.
Photo Credit: Dan Hickling / Hickling Images
