After being drafted in the second round in 2009, Anton Lander’s NHL career hasn’t quite panned out as expected. The native of Sundsvall, Sweden has played in 197 NHL games, and has only been able to put up 32 points. 20 of those points came in the 2014-2015 season, with 38 games played.
Most known for being a defensive center and a faceoff specialist as an NHL player, Lander was able to put up 108 points in 136 career AHL games.
Coming off a season that saw him pot only three points in 61 games, this year is critical for Lander to make an impression on the Oilers franchise and its fan base.
The team waived him earlier in the season, but decided not to send him to the minors. Although he wasn’t a player to put up big points on the score sheet at the NHL level, last year was a close-to-positive possession player for the Oilers.
He did have the teams worst PDO last season at 96.7, suggesting he is having poor luck. On top of that, he played a lot of ice time with Lauri Korpikoski, who is known as a bit of a black hole on the ice.
Lander is a player I have long rooted for but now in the last year of his contract, it is up to him to take that next step forward and contribute in more than just the defensive zone and the faceoff dot. Oilers management clearly has their questions about him given that he was placed on waivers October 10. He wasn’t claimed, though, and stayed with the Oilers.
He has played four of the teams five games, netting an assist in that time. Given that Drake Caggiula has been recovering from an injury, I begin to wonder if we see Lander sent down to the AHL when Caggiula is healthy enough to return to everyday action.
Of course, Caggiula is still a big question mark but it is well known that Todd McLellan is a huge fan of his game and I think he will give the North Dakota product a strong shot to be an impact player for the Oilers this season.
Having Lander in the AHL is far from a horrible thing given his elite AHL point production over his time there. He wore the captaincy for the now defunct Oklahoma City Barons and would certainly be able to help ease along some of the Oilers younger prospects in the system.
Nevertheless, he has a lot to prove over the course of the next number of months to stay in favour with Oilers brass.
Follow me on Twitter: @zjlaing
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