George Richards, FHN Publisher
It was not too long ago that the Florida Panthers had one or two players who were recognizable around the league.
Today, the defending Stanley Cup champs are full of players known throughout the game, from Tkachuk to Barkov, Bobrovsky to Reinhart.
Anton Lundell is quickly working his way into that orbit.
Now, Lundell has been a big piece of the Panthers since joining the team in 2021, centering Florida’s third line pretty much since Day 1.
His defensive play, the style which has some calling him a junior version of Sasha Barkov — ‘Baby Barky,’ if you will — has been his calling card.
His offense? That’s been streaky.
But with Barkov out of the lineup the past five games, Lundell and linemate Eetu Luostarinen are back with Sam Reinhart.
And everything is clicking.
The defense, the offense, all of it.
Although just 23, Lundell’s 54 playoff games rank seventh in franchise history.
That is one reason why coach Paul Maurice does not treat Lundell like your typical young player.
Of the players on the Panthers’ roster right now, only Mackie Samoskevich is younger than Lundell who turned 23 on Oct. 3.
“I still am looked at the young guy, although Mackie just came in so I am happy to get a break,” said Lundell, the first-ever draft selection by GM Bill Zito in 2020.
“I am used to be the guy asking a lot of questions, but lately, I have had guys come up to me asking questions on how we do things. It is new, but it is fun. I want to be a leader here one day, be a key player on the team. It is good.’’
The old saying in college sports is, once you have reached a certain number of games in your freshman year, you cease being treated like a freshman.
Lundell, having been a rookie during Florida’s Presidents’ Trophy season, has seen quite a bit in his time with the Panthers.
“It is mostly on how you can treat them,” Maurice said earlier in the week. “I like to think I treat all players with respect, but you are more mindful of your tone and how hard you go after a guy until they get that veteran status where they understand it.
I would really be comfortable being direct with Lundy because I know he would rebound and everything be fine the next day.
“He is a respected pro around here now. He has … just made huge, huge strides. He is a full-on NHL player now.’’
On Saturday night, Lundell made an uncharacteristic mistake, sending a soft, no-look pass across the zone toward Dmitry Kulikov.
It was picked off, and ended up in the back of the net for a 1-0 Vegas lead.
Lundell had another turnover later in the game — but Maurice said afterward that he did not plan on sitting down Lundell to talk about it, adding he may not even bring it up.
“He knows,’’ Maurice said.
When the Panthers tied the score early in the second, it was Reinhart scoring off a sharp pass from Lundell off the boards.
Florida beat the Golden Knights 4-3 in overtime; Lundell had two more assists.
Which leads us to his offense.
Lundell broke out as a rookie in 2021-22 with 18 goals and 44 assists and could have been a factor in the Calder Trophy race had he not been injured late in the season.
Those 18 goals remain the most he has scored although he is currently off to the best start of his career — and it is not even close.
With four goals and eight points in his first seven games, Lundell is close to eclipsing his October totals from his first three seasons combined.
In his first month of his first three seasons, Lundell has a total of three goals and 11 points.
Being back with Reinhart has certainly helped the numbers of both Lundell and Luostarinen.
With Barkov out, Maurice quickly put those three back together as they had been for much of the previous two seasons.
As Maurice said the other day, there was no way he could separate Barkov and Reinhart after he scored 57 goals last season.
But when Barkov comes back this week, do not be surprised if Lundell, Luostarinen and Reinhart stick together.
Florida had thought about moving Samoskevich to play with Barkov anyway, so, this may be the time to try that out.
After all, the line of Lundell, Luostarinen and Reinhart have combined for 10 goals and 19 points in the five games they have been back together.
You may not want to mess with that.
“We played so much before, and we have just picked up from where we left off,” Lundell said. “We have a lot of experience together, and that means a lot. But we have a lot of fun playing together. We read the game the same, all make good decisions with the puck. It is like a group of friends; some friends you just have a connection with right away. We have a lot of reps between us, which helps, maybe 100 or 200 games together. But it is fun.”