Casper Lundell
2021-22 Team: HIFK / Liiga
Birthdate: March 11, 2004
Birthplace: Espoo, Finland
Height: 5ft-11 Weight: 174lbs
Shoots: L.
Position: forward
NHL Draft Eligibility: 2022 Year One Eligibility
ranking
For Kasper Lundell, the 2022 NHL draft comes at a good time. After dealing with injuries in 2018-2020, Londell has been able to return to the ice mostly full-time for the past two seasons, organizing great outings along the way. In 2020-21, he scored 26 points in 20 games while playing in U18 SM-sarja (Finnish U18), while in 2021-22, he scored 26 points again in 31 games in Finnish U20 SM-sarja.
Throughout these seasons, Lundell has seen steady growth in his game, and has begun to show his powerful skill set two-way forward. He sees the ice incredibly well and knows how to keep himself out of trouble while slowing down his opponent’s chances. If he is able to improve his skating, there is a real chance that he will stop him forward at whatever level of hockey he is playing.
RELATED TOPICS: NHL Draft 2022 Guide THW
Unlike his brother Anton Lundell, who was picked 12th overall in 2020, Kasper hasn’t been seen as having the highest attacking cap, but that doesn’t mean there’s no potential there. He has a great toolbox, and if he can stay healthy, his development can grow by leaps and bounds every year.
Other THW Draft Profiles
Casper Lundell – NHL Projection
While he probably won’t be one of the top picks in the 2022 draft, Lundell has the toolkit and ability of a player who’ll hear his name. If he’s a little older or has been injury-free throughout his development, he might be a second or third round pick.
As it stands now, Lundell appears to be a very safe pick in the fourth round. He could slip a bit due to his size, but he seems unlikely to make it past the early fifth round.
quotes
He doesn’t have high speed or agility in small areas at the moment. However, once he got stronger, it would be interesting to see if that added the power transmission to a more powerful move. Casper may be underestimated as a possibility as he has struggled with injuries, but the best hockey game awaits him.
Marco Bombino – Finnishjuniorhockey.com
Lundell’s front-check work ethic was something that stood out to me in this game. He may not have had the most active game in terms of scoring opportunities, but he was able to showcase some of his other skills. His hockey IQ is very good, which he was able to display when reading plays and thus get a turnover on both ends of the ice.
Rasmus Turnqvist (from Kasper Lundell Game Report, FCHockey, March 22, 2022)
Like his brother, Kasper has a persistent work ethic and an intelligence that allows him to succeed in every shift. He’s a very serious playmaker, with 17 assists and 26 points in 20 games at the under-18 level and does a great job protecting the disc.
Peter Barracini – thehockeywriters.com
strength point
- High hockey IQ
- Plays a smart two-way game
- Solid Offensive Kit
Under construction – improvements to do
In order to take this next step in his career, Lundell will have to improve his general ability to skate. Right now, he’s an average to below average skater, who sometimes struggles to get up to speed, hampering his ability to move with the disc. This can be fixed, of course, especially as it grows into his body.
NHL potential
With his rapid development since getting healthy, Lundell is on a great path to making it to the NHL one day. If he can stay injury-free, this will allow him to work around the kinks in his tactics while developing his already strong two-way play.
It will take some time, but Lundell may have a higher ceiling than his stats would lead you to believe. At the moment he might look like a defensive striker in sixth at most, but if he can improve his overall skate and hone his scoring instincts, there’s a top six striker in his kit. That might be a bit of a best-case scenario, but it amazes me as a player and we’ll look at it in four or five years and see it steals recruiting day for whoever’s taking it.
Risk and reward analysis
Risk – 2/5, Reward 4/5
Fantasy hockey odds
Offense – 5/10, defense – 6/10
Casper Lundell statistics
Eugene Helfrick is a writer for Tampa Bay Lightning and is actually from Tampa Bay. He’s written about Lightning for six years, covering everything from their career to the 2015 Stanley Cup Final, to their landslide first-round exit in 2019, to their recovery in the bubble in 2020. While he’s happy to talk about it. Anything from cows to cars to video games, hockey will always remain one of his favorite pastimes.