We took a look at all 35 players in the system that are aged 25 or younger (as of October 1, 2023) and ranked them. It’s the Top 25 Under 25. At #6, we have Lucas Edmonds, an overager who grew up in Sweden and has hopes of stepping into the NHL really quickly.
Bio
Stats
Scouting Report
Edmonds had a very unique path to joining the Lightning. He was born in North Bay, Ontario, but played all his hockey in Sweden, from U16s all the way up to the Allsvenskan and SHL by the age of 19. After an unreal offensive season “stepping down” into the OHL in 2022, he was drafted by the Lightning. If you want to read a longer story on how Edmonds had to be drafted and how the Lightning got him, read Igor’s Top 25 post from last summer!
From the OHL, where he proved his offense after a whole junior career playing lower roles in Sweden, Edmonds jumped right into the AHL with the Syracuse Crunch and instantly looked up the scratch. He scored 15 goals and 27 points in 49 games, with almost all of his points coming at even strength. On the Crunch, Edmonds, along with Declan Carlile and Darren Raddysh, had the most favorable goal differential on the team. ABB and Fortier were also high on the list.
Goal differential isn’t the best statistic to use, especially since it’s so varied depending on shooting and save percentages out of the control of most players on the ice, as well as zone usage (Ryan McDonagh always had a poor GF% because he was always utilized defensively). But for the AHL, it’s what we got and it’s worth sharing regardless.
Naturally, most the players I mentioned above who had good seasons in the Crunch last year have either made the Lightning’s roster or are promising players to make it out of camp or early in the season. The Lightning are giving a serious look at ABB again because of his monster AHL season.
But back to Edmonds. This winger is all hands, and his poise with the puck, to go along with mature determination and awareness have allowed him to get into a position to be noticed so soon in his tenure with the organization. One of the biggest barriers for junior players is the jump from coasting a lot in junior to needing to be *on* during every shift in the AHL, and especially in the NHL.
For Edmonds, he had already developed that work ethic and mental load in Sweden, so when he was in the OHL, he was schooling everybody with his 113 point season. In the AHL playing against men, Edmonds looked capable out of the box when it often takes junior graduates years to get to that level. This is also the advantage Carlile and Max Crozier have on defense, and something Jack Thompson is working out of.
The reason Edmonds ended up so high on our list in the Top 25 isn’t because he’s expected to have a high ceiling in the NHL and be a dominant scorer, but because the floor of his competitiveness is so high. I’m fairly certain Edmonds will be in the NHL within the next couple years in someone’s bottom six and he’s going to play a very useful forechecking, transition, and penalty kill role for that team. Hopefully it’s the Lightning.
And on a Top 25 Under 25 list where no one is an NHLer (after yesterday’s news, perhaps Hugo Alnefelt changes that fact), a player who is capable of the NHL to any degree is worth as much or more than a higher potential, lower probability player. I find it funny that Edmonds and Duke ended up going back-to-back at the end of this week.
Highlights
To get to know Edmonds, go through his highlights. Also ask yourself how much he reminds you of Yanni Gourde. All of his goals come from opponent turnovers/broken plays, and his overall play around the net to find soft spots and get rebounds on target is very strong. These are also skills that Michael Eyssimont has and helped him get onto the roster.
