Lucas Forsell is a long-term project but plays hard and has skill: CanucksArmy prospect rankings #5

We have very much enjoyed watching the tape on Lucas Forsell since he was drafted by the Canucks in the seventh round of the 2021 NHL Entry Draft.

The Swedish winger has a lot of offensive potential as he is a great playmaker, has above-average speed, and is seeing his shot gain power as he grows up and adds muscle. Forsell is going to need to make a lot of improvements to his game for him to eventually make it to the NHL but since being drafted, he has impressed with his scoring numbers in the J20 league and what he can do offensively in the SHL.

Let’s dive into Forsell’s game.

Lucas Forsell is a 19-year-old forward who is currently playing for Färjestad in the SHL. He spent 17 games in the Allsvenskan this season while on loan because the SHL team didn’t believe he was ready for full-time play at that level. He also played in seven J20 games this season. The league where Forsell has had the most success this season is the SHL. He has five goals and one assist in 15 games since being called up from his Allsvenskan loan.

Forsell is 6’0″ and typically plays right wing but on occasion plays on the left side as well.

He was a seventh-round pick of the Canucks in 2021 and was one of the youngest players in that draft. If he was born 10 days later, he would have been a 2022 draft-eligible player and would have likely gone much higher than the seventh round.

Forsell was grateful for the loan to the Allsvenskan earlier this season as it gave him a chance to develop better and gain the confidence that he can succeed against men instead of just being a very good junior player.

“I was good to get an opportunity to play against men and prove to myself that I can be a great player against men,” said Forsell about his loan to the Allsvenskan. “At the start of the season, I was the thirteenth forward and got like three minutes here, three minutes there. It’s hard to get the game tempo in my legs and it’s also hard because when you’re the thirteenth forward, the practices are not the same as if you’re on a line and stuff like that. The development gets cut a little bit if you’re like outside of the team. Now, I’ve proved for myself that I can compete against the men in the best Swedish league and also now in SHL, I’m playing well and thinking, ‘okay, I can be a really good player’.”

The first thing that caught our eye with Forsell was not his offensive skill. The first thing we really liked about his game was the consistent effort level that he gave on a shift-by-shift basis. Though Forsell was always one of his junior teams’ top scorers, he didn’t let it get to his head and instead has been able to keep his foot on the gas and really make an impact on every shift with something as simple as effort.

He’s going to need to add size before he comes to North America and that is something he is very aware of. Forsell has worked a lot with Mikael Samuelsson this season and says that Samuelsson has been coming out to his games to work with him on his development.

We are about to get to some goal highlights but before we do, I just want to mention where these goals are being scored from. They are not snipes from the half-wall — a lot of Forsell’s offence comes from right around the crease. He is willing to go to those dirty areas and though he is still undersized, he works hard and has the skill to finish around the net.

Now, let’s get to some goals.

What we really want to see over the next season and a half is for Forsell to just continue to improve and take advantage of the SHL ice time that is given to him. He has not established himself as one of the best 12 forwards for his SHL team and he will gain from feeling comfortable in a position with his SHL organization. Forsell was thankful for the loan to the Allsvenskan and is now showing that he is ready for the daily grind of the SHL.

We love the progression in his game since being drafted and need to remember that he is still just 19 years old. As long as Forsell continues to progress in his game, he should be in North America soon and be a key piece on the AHL team.

Forsell’s current SHL contract expires after the 2023-24 season. He has stated that his goal is to come to North America but wants to be ready both physically and mentally. We’re not so certain that he will come over to the AHL for the 2024-25 season but our prediction is that Forsell comes to North America for the 2025-26 season and begins in the AHL but will have NHL games on his radar during the season where he will be 21 years old.

We have high hopes for this seventh-round pick and he may end up being a diamond in the rough for the Canucks.

This concludes our fifth-ranked prospect report. We will be back tomorrow with number four on the rankings!

Honourable Mentions: Aku Koskenvuo, Joni Jurmo, Connor Lockhart, and Kirill Kudryavtsev.

Also, I should mention that Aatu Räty will be ranked as the number 0 on our rankings. We haven’t had enough time to fully evaluate him and this list was formed and finalized before the trade.

We have also graduated Jack Rathbone, Nils Höglander and Vasily Podkolzin from the list due to their NHL experience.