Liukas is a big ox of a winger. His size and strength are easily his best assets, making him effective in board battles and solid as a rock when he lands a hit. They aren’t his only assets, however, as he also displays impressive awareness, tracking and hockey sense. Makes up for a notable lack of footspeed by anticipating the play and taking great lines to the puck. Effort level is very good, you can tell that he’s giving it his all on every shift and will squeeze out the last bit of energy he has for desperation plays. Is effective without the puck on both the forecheck and in defensive zone coverage, thanks primarily to his positional awareness and to a long stick that he extends for pokechecks. Size and strength allow him to bulldoze through traffic at times, or push opponents off their path. Can play hard on his man in the defensive zone and box him into safer areas. Wrist shot is a weapon, as it comes with good power and accuracy, though he needs help or luck getting into dangerous spots to use it. Excellent release of the knee on the one-timer, solid weight shift. Puck control isn’t bad, but he could get a lot better at digging passes out of his feet in motion. Can slow the game down and dictate it that way. His quickness and skating are definitely big drawbacks. While he can hit an alright top gear after a few strides his agility is really lacking. Struggles with pivots when skating backwards and trying to defend the rush. Not a lot of speed in his skating – there’s no flex in his ankle. Uses crossovers to build speed a bit, otherwise really just maintains or glides. Seems to get a little hotheaded out there at times, needs to get that under control. Liukas is worth taking a flyer on because his game should translate better to smaller ice, especially if you can improve his quickness and conditioning through development.

– FCHockey’s 2021 NHL Draft Guide