With New Contract in Hand, Anton Lundell Could Be ‘Difference Maker’ for Florida Panthers
After earning a big pay day after a stellar performance en route to a Stanley Cup, Anton Lundell is looking to be a key player for the Florida Panthers this season.
Photo by Colby Guy
With a new contract and a Stanley Cup in hand, Anton Lundell is looking to have a breakout 2024-25 campaign.
Lundell blossomed during Florida’s run through the playoffs last year, putting up three goals and 17 points in 24 playoff games and a team-leading five assists in the Stanley Cup Final.
He’s looking to do more of the same as he enters his fourth NHL season.
“Obviously, it’s a new situation to start the season as a champion from last year,” Lundell said. “That obviously comes with some pressure, but also a lot of excitement. For myself, I just want to keep growing, keep building myself and I know I got so much more to show.
“I felt like I was able to play my best hockey in the playoffs last year. I had the most fun time in my career so far. So, just looking back on what I did back then, I still remember, but I’m just trying to improve every day and get back to that level in the regular season.”
The 22-year-old was rewarded for his standout performance with a brand new six-year contract carrying a $5 million cap hit this summer.
He is hoping he could reward the Panthers for that investment with a few more playoff runs like the one he had this past summer.
“It’s a huge honor to be here and be able to stay in Florida,” Lundell said. “I was never thinking about anywhere else. Florida was my first option and I told the team that I want to be here. I want to keep building what we’ve been building for the last three years I’ve been here. It’s been amazing to be a part of this team and great organization and obviously to be able to be a big part of a Stanley Cup team was something I will always remember and we want to repeat that as many times as we can.
“That is a huge honor from the organization towards me that they see something in me and want to keep me here for a long time. I want to show them that I’m worth it. I want to be a big part of this team and become a key player for the team. But, of course, it gives you wholeness. I’ve always just focused on hockey, but now, you have the calmness. You can focus on yourself, focus on how to get better and improve yourself every day. So, as I said, I’m very excited to go try and repeat what we did last year.”
This season could prove to be a big step for Lundell becoming that key player he wants to be.
Multiple key departures throughout the lineup have the former 2020 first-round pick as a key role on both the power play and penalty kill, and with linemate Vladimir Tarasenko gone, he is going to have to carry a bigger offensive load at 5-on-5.
Mackie Samoskevich, a young 21-year-old looking to break out in his first NHL season, and Jesper Boqvist, a 26-year-old forward who can provide speed and versatility, are the two favorites to slot in at right wing next to Lundell and Eetu Luostarinen.
No matter which one of them takes that job, Lundell believes he can handle it.
“I always tell myself, and some coaches have told me, that good players can play with anybody,” Lundell said. “So, that’s my mentality I bring to play with whoever the coach wants to put there. Obviously, me and Eetu have been super close and play a lot together. We try to help whoever is going to play with us as much as we can and talk to them in English as well, not only Finnish, but it’s going to be fun to start the season.”
There is a lot that Lundell can take away from his time next to Tarasenko, too.
The six-time 30-goal scorer, and now, two-time Cup Champion wasted no time sharing some wisdom with the young Finn, taking a locker next to Lundell and talking shop with him after practices before the two eventually shared a line.
As a young Aleksander Barkov once said about Jaromir Jagr, a young player could take a piece or two from the game of a player of that caliber, and Lundell hopes to do the same.
“His compete and his love for hockey,” Lundell said of what he took away from his time with Tarasenko. “He was an unreal addition for our team. He was the right piece we needed and for me to be able to sit next to him in the locker room and play with him was just so much fun to hear stories and obviously learn a lot. But he’s just thinking all the time about how to be better. He wants to help his linemates and he has so many good details in his game and he works so hard.”
Even during a summer full of Stanley Cup celebrations, Lundell pushed himself to improve this summer.
He did so in the gym, putting on muscle and becoming stronger on the puck, and with his mindset, which he built throughout the stretch as the Panthers prepared to make their playoff run.
“Even during the summer, I feel like I got some more muscle and I’m in good shape,” Lundell said. “I’m probably in the best shape so far in my career. I’m also growing. I know I’m not perfect and some things just come with time. You can’t get everything when you’re 20 years old. So, I’m patient, but at the same time, I’m working hard and I want to be strong on the ice as well. But I feel stronger [physically] and stronger mentally as well. Being through the playoffs and seeing what it took to win, I got a lot of confidence from that.”
Early on in the season, Lundell struggled to find that patience, with frustration building as his offensive numbers slipped in a season where there was a lot of pressure to produce, being the first contract year of his career.
But once he found it, in part to both Tarasenko and Evan Rodrigues providing mentorship on the wing, he played his best hockey when it mattered the most and got that new contract.
And he’s made sure to come back into camp this year even stronger.
“Well, he’s 22, so he’s very mature for his age,” Barkov said. “But I think he’s way stronger now. He looks bigger, he still has the same endurance, if not better, but he’s stronger. He is stronger on the pucks and today was the first time I practiced against him and it was really hard in the corners against him. So, I see that he got better at that and he became a little stronger. And he has a lot of time to become even more stronger, faster and all that kind of stuff. I’m excited to see what he can do.”
And, even when he turns 23 on Oct. 3, he could very well still be the youngest player on the Panthers.
There are a few players vying to unseat him for that title, namely Samoskevich, but many of them have taken to asking him for advice as they look to battle for roster spots or just take something away from their time at Florida’s training camp before heading back to their junior clubs.
Heck, a few of the players likely asking Lundell for advice are older than him.
“It’s been weird to be the youngest guy on the same team for three years,” Lundell said. “Usually some young guys will always come here and there, but it’s been a long three years to be the youngest. You have to do the youngest player jobs a lot. It’s been so fun, but it’s been challenging a little bit.
“It’s funny because as a young guy, you come into camp nervous, but you trying to talk to everybody now. You feel like a bigger part of the team and the other guys come to talk to you and ask you for advice and you’re like ‘Oh, I guess I’m not that young anymore.’ So, obviously, you start to feel that you became a bigger piece of the team, for sure.”
He is wise beyond his years, after all.
At 22, Lundell has played 54 career postseason games, where he has produced at roughly a 0.5 point-per-game clip, and has already built a strong game in his own end.
This year, he is going to be trusted on the top penalty kill unit and with a spot on the second power play unit and very well could make a big jump from the 13 goals and 35 points he put up in 78 regular season games last season.
“With young players, you’re kind of managing mistakes,” coach Paul Maurice said. “I honestly don’t know if I should be pointing something out more to Lundell to Sam Bennett or to Barkov. And he’s got like 60 playoff games already at his age, so he’s dialed in, he’s had experience, so we’re expecting that line to be a difference maker for us.”
As for shedding the title of the youngest player on the Panthers?
“I’m ready if somebody wants it,” Lundell said. “But whatever works.”