Anton Lundell writes an exceptional story in the world’s toughest hockey league, writes Tommi Seppälä, Urheilu’s NHL reporter.
Tommi Seppälä NHL reporter
Under-18 World Cup gold, under-20 World Cup gold and once in the Stanley Cup finals.
Florida Panthers Anton Lundell22, already at a young age begins to be profiled as a winning type, the kind of which you rarely meet in Finland.
At the age of 21, Lundell was already the absolute best of his team last summer at the NHL playoff level, specifically as a two-way top-level center forward.
And nothing has changed in a year.
Lundell is playing at a high level for the second spring in a row in the playoffs of the world’s toughest hockey league. In the southern part of Florida, the biggest spotlight always hits to Aleksander Barkov or to Matthew Tkachukbut the indisputable fact is that in three years Lundell has grown into an absolutely central, I would say almost irreplaceable pillar of support for his team.
But how?
Weaknesses are few
It’s about a comprehensive technical-tactical-character driven package that the Finn brings to the table. Lundell won’t become a superstar like Barkov in the NHL, but he already handles the tasks of the top team’s second center like a veteran.
When Florida’s starting second center Sam Bennett injured earlier in the spring, Tkachuk and Carter Verhaeghen Lundell was planted next to it. The trio played fantastically, controlled the flow of the game, scored and downright dominated their opponents. The trio has won their games so far with goals of 7–2.
Bennett, on the other hand, is known more for the physical element and his ability to agitate. When Tkachuk is a very similar player, the duo often creates quite a whirlwind in the second line of the pack of cats. However, something about Lundell’s current level is said by the fact that the head coach Paul Maurice returned Lundell to the middle of the second in the conference finals.
A big part of Lundell’s greatness is tactical maturity. There are a lot of technically talented young people in the NHL, but very few have the skills to make the NHL playoffs. The striker from Helsinki not only survives in a merciless pressure cooker, but also makes a real difference between teams.
Lundell doesn’t wander here and there hoping for points or waste his men on the defensive end. Positioning, racket pressure, exploitation and fighting play down to the smallest details are already world class.
Lundell shouldn’t be called a mini-Barkov in Florida. He was already mature for his age when he entered the NHL three years ago, but watching Barkov closely has certainly done his job.
The third and final part of Lundell is character – the character of a gambler or should I say the character of a winner.
As a person, Lundell is well-behaved, restrained and polite, but on the rink he doesn’t apologize to anyone.
It can be seen from everything that there is a lot going on inside and only winning matters. This has sometimes even been seen as a kind of cockiness and emotional outpourings. Already a couple of years ago, Lundell got into a real fight with Erik Haula, in the aftermath of which Haula stated to Urheilu that Lundell can’t do anything in the NHL.
At times, Lundell may have fallen a little easily under pressure to score goals, but there is always an exceptional audacity for a young player. Blows can be changed, but the head stays cool.
Playing against the Finnish duo is extremely difficult
Lundell has raised the level of Florida as a team enormously. He doesn’t necessarily celebrate with power, but he plays night after night at a top level in both directions. Only 11 forwards have a better power statistic reading than Lundell (+8) from the last two springs. And 19 (4+15) power points in 35 matches is not bad either
In the tiebreaker game of the Boston series, Lundell himself scored a 1–1 equalizer and scored a 2–1 winning goal.
Now Lundell is stealing the second string center spot from Bennett because he can.
The story of a young player is exceptional in all respects. The story of a youngster who is still in development, who brings to the table almost everything that is required to play in a championship-level team.
The fact that the opponents have to face Barkov and Lundell as two top centers is an exceptionally tough challenge. Not through the fact that these beat the result, like Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl in my opinion, but because playing against this duo is, to put it bluntly, hellishly difficult.
What’s even more interesting is that Lundell brings all the top quality to the table with a rookie contract of $925,000.