Cam Lund vs Brown 12/7/2024

Cam Lund feels like the forgotten prospect in the San Jose Sharks system. Quentin Musty's dominance of the OHL last season, Kasper Halttunen's insane playoff run with London, and Filip Bystedt's AHL arrival have all overshadowed Lund's time at Northeastern.

Watching Lund play Brown was a reminder that the Sharks have something in Cam Lund and that his best hockey is in front of him.

Here are three observations from Lund's performance:

Cam Lund Was The Best Player On The Ice

And it wasn't close. Cam Lund (white jersey #12) finished the game with a goal, two assists, seven shots on goal, and was 7 of 14 in the faceoff circle. At times, he was playing with the Brown's defense.

Yes, Brown isn't the most prestigious college hockey program, but it's clear when one player is better than everyone else, and Cam Lund was. Lund was highly effective at manipulating space to create shooting lanes, and the puck was glued to his stick all game long.

Lund can stick handle through a few defenders here. While it might seem risky, he knows he has support on the left side. He draws the defense to collapse around him and sets up his linemate with a great shot.

Here, he manipulates the defense to think that he will continue from behind the net to along the half wall, then cuts back to get a quality shot on net. While he won't have this much time and space as he plays tougher competition, it's a successful move that William Eklund utilizes all the time.

Cam Lund's Shot Is Good

We knew it was good, but it's NHL-ready. Going back to his draft profile, Lund's shot has always been impressive:

Lund gets the puck in the neutral zone, finds a small window by the goalie's head, and lets off a quick, hard shot that leaves the goalie with no chance. Lund couldn't have walked up and placed it in a better spot.

Cam Lund is given a massive lane down Main Street and utilizes his quick and powerful shot to get a high quality chance that doesn't miss by much. While Lund's shot isn't Halttunen's, it's one of the better shots in the Sharks system.

Cam Lund Needs To Play On A More Competitive Team

This is the biggest takeaway from watching Lund. Northeastern has struggled the past few seasons and is off to a slow start with a 4-7-3 record. They have one win in Hockey East this year (their yearly beating of Boston College). Lund is the highest-drafted player on the roster, with a majority of the rest of the players being mid-late-round picks.

Cam Lund, who is finishing up his Junior season, will need to decide whether to go professional (more on this in a minute) or enter the transfer portal. With the new NCAA rules, entering the portal doesn't have the same punishment it used to. If Lund wants to return to school for his senior season, he should seriously consider a move to a more competitive team next year.

A Boston College or Boston University would make sense, where he would play with other skilled players in more high-stakes games. Potentially playing with James Hagens (assuming he returns to Boston College) or Cole Eiserman (again, assuming he returns to Boston University) would be great for Lund before heading to San Jose.

The other option would be to turn professional. The Sharks could sign Lund to an ATO (much like Thomas Bordeleau) that wouldn't burn a year of his ELC if they wanted him to play in the AHL with the San Jose Barracuda. While Lund has been good, he isn't NHL-ready yet, and the Sharks would be better suited to utilize a roster spot for young players like Collin Graf, Danil Gushchin, or Bordeleau.

It would be ideal for the Sharks to have Lund come in and play middle six minutes on a competitive Barracuda team down the stretch and then sign his ELC in the offseason when it would kick in for the 2025-26 season.

Lund would play against grown men and be sheltered by veterans like Colin White, Andrew Poturalski, or Justin Bailey.

While the decision is entirely up to Lund on his playing future, it would behoove him to think long and hard about where he wants to spend next season and what would be the best for his development.