The Florida Panthers’ celebration continues into July. For the primary time in franchise historical past, they enter the offseason as Stanley Cup Champions, and the parade occurred final Sunday, June 30.
Amid their celebration, free company lastly kicked off, affecting Florida on either side of the coin. They managed to maintain the ahead who scored the Stanley Cup-clinching objective in ahead Sam Reinhart, for the subsequent eight years. Nonetheless, they misplaced some items in Brandon Montour, Ryan Lomberg, Oliver Ekman-Larsson, and Vladimir Tarasenko.
There was one other piece they managed to carry on to. That was ahead Anton Lundell. Over the previous three seasons, he’s turn into a key workforce member each within the common season and the playoffs. Nonetheless, he entered the free company interval as a restricted free agent. Earlier this week, he signed a brand new contract extension for the subsequent six seasons with an annual common of $5 million per season. With every part he’s executed for the group, the extension exhibits that either side are dedicated to maintaining the successful tradition in South Florida.
Lundell Has Been a Monster Since He Was Drafted
As Invoice Zito’s first decide as a normal supervisor, he took Lundell twelfth total within the 2020 draft. Since then, the choice has paid huge dividends for the squad. In 213 common season video games for the Panthers, he’s scored 43 instances and piled up 69 assists. He’s been productive within the postseason, as he discovered the again of the web six instances and assisted on 22 others in 54 playoff appearances.
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Moreover, he’s been a fantastic two-way ahead as he has fundamental tasks on the penalty kill. Final season, he averaged 1:15 on the kill whereas tallying a shorthanded help. That could be a dramatic lower from his rookie season when he averaged 2:20 a sport down a person. In his profession, he has three shorthanded objectives and 7 shorthanded factors total.
He was wonderful in his Cup Run this previous summer season. By way of 24 video games, he scored three objectives and tallied 14 assists. Moreover, he honed a ranking of plus-8. He’s turn into a key playoff performer for head coach Paul Maurice and firm.
Lundell Is Barkov 2.0
As beforehand talked about, his two-way sport is improbable. However it’s straightforward to determine the place he sharpened his expertise in that setting.
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That may be attributed to his captain, Aleksander Barkov, with whom he has performed penalty kill minutes since his arrival in Dawn. And very like him, he can add “Stanley Cup Champion” to his resume. At solely 22, he has rather more room to develop.
Will Lundell Begin Seeing Extra Prime-Six Minutes within the Future?
He was drafted early within the first spherical in 2020 and has spent each minute of his professional profession within the NHL. Nonetheless, he was all the time positioned on the third line until Barkov or ahead Sam Bennett was injured. In these situations, he would see top-six play.
However he may very well be seeing it someday quickly. Bennett is getting into the final season of his present contract, and it’s unknown if he’ll stick round. Additionally, forwards have been misplaced from the roster in free company, making room for brand spanking new contracts or call-ups from the AHL.
In the end, he was drafted for this place. He’s performed properly in his three seasons, and his contract was well-deserving. However he may very well be getting a extra vital position a lot sooner than anticipated. He should not have any downside dealing with such a accountability.
