Tristan Luneau

May 2024 – An injury riddled season for Luneau, who saw six games in the NHL and six in the AHL, saw him spent most of the campaign rehabbing an infection in his knee from mid-December onwards. Luneau will be looking to make the Ducks roster in 2024-25 and he has a good shot of making it. Pat Quinn

July 2023 – Luneau completed his third stint in the QMJHL with the Gatineau Olympiques, and his points per game has been on an incredible incline of 0.58, 0.68, and finally 1.28. The QMJHL is notorious for its high scoring and free-wheeling defense, so it has been good since that Luneau has improved so much. Once he feels comfortable in a league, his game really shines, and it almost feels like he is too good for the CHL at the moment. Unfortunately, he will spend another season there so all he can do is just work on playing in his own end and dealing with pressure. There is a great chance Luneau becomes a solid top four defenseman, the powerplay time may be all eaten up by the time he gets there though. Pat Quinn

July 2022 – The Anaheim Ducks have selected Luneau in the second round of the 2022 NHL Draft, 53rd overall. Nick Richard

September 2021 – Selected with the first overall pick in the 2020 QMJHL Draft, Tristan Luneau had an impressive debut season with Gatineau and was named the QMJHL’s Defensive Rookie of the Year. Suiting up for 31 contests in an abbreviated regular season, he tallied four goals and 14 assists while averaging over 20 minutes of ice time per game. Luneau should be relied upon as one of the Olympiques’ top players in 2021-22.

Luneau is a big right-handed defenseman with good mobility and great instincts all over the ice. He drives play from the back end by routinely creating clean exits, both with his feet and with his passing ability. His stride is powerful and clean but he isn’t particularly explosive at this point in his development. The young blue liner excels on puck retrievals, utilizing shoulder checks to scan for oncoming forecheckers as well as outlet options and he makes quick decisions with the puck on his stick. When under pressure, he uses his body and his feet to protect the puck along the boards until he has help or sees a safety valve to kick the puck out to. With his ability to quickly turn play in a positive direction for his team, Luneau effectively limits the amount of time his team spends defending when he is on the ice. He isn’t overly physical but he uses his body to take away space and box out attacking forwards, both in defensive transition and in defensive zone coverage off the cycle. Luneau is a willing shot blocker and has the intelligence to read the play and get his large frame into shooting lanes. In the offensive zone, he controls the blue line with his mobility and vision to help sustain pressure by getting into space and distributing the puck efficiently. He has a good shot and is proficient in creating lanes to get it through from the point, and his one-timer is an added weapon on the powerplay. There aren’t really any glaring weaknesses in his game but using his skillset to be more dynamic offensively would really take his game to the next level. If he takes another step forward in his draft year, Luneau could work his way into the conversation as a top-10 pick for the 2022 NHL Draft. Nick Richard