2020 NHL Draft prospect profile: Anton Lundell scouting report
By Kyle Pereira
Lundell’s Tendencies
To start with some of Lundell’s tendencies, let’s look at the offensive zone first. One thing that immediately jumps out to me is his shoot-first mentality. It’s a safe bet to assume that he’ll be the player shooting the puck on an odd-man rush, as he is a pure sniper.
He plays smart with the puck, as he doesn’t get too cute with the puck when it comes to stickhandling. Lundell does not force passes or shots that aren’t open to take. It helps him to limit his turnovers, which ultimately makes him a more appealing player for teams when he has the puck.
On the power play, he plays on the half-wall and point area. That tells me that the team puts him in a position to utilize his shot, putting him in a prime one-timer spot. As for the penalty kill, HIFK runs the “box” formation (two forwards play from the dots to the top of the face-off circle, staying on either the right or left) and he plays aggressively in that spot.
He possesses an active stick, meaning he utilizes his poke checks and stick lifts, and also waving his stick in front of him to rush the opponent and take away passing lanes. That active stick assists him on the penalty kill, as he rushes at the opponent with the puck and forces turnovers constantly.
One negative habit that he has, is he cheats up ice on the breakout. This happens a lot with many NHL players, but there’s one thing that I worry about. Lundell is a center more than he is a winger. As a center, generally, you’re supposed to be the last forward out of the defensive zone, as you are basically the third defenseman.
When the center cheats up ice on the breakout, that leaves the two defensemen outnumbered in their own zone. If there’s a turnover, it’s more likely than not that they will give up a dangerous scoring opportunity.