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Fabian Lysell

RHHL Commissioner


Scout: Nate [2023-07-29]


Boston Bruins
2021 NHL Entry Draft
1st Round Pick
21st Overall Selection by the Boston Bruins

MAIN REPORT
Skating:

Above-Average - Lysell is a pleasure to watch when he turns up ice, he has great posture and quick feet, which gives him great two-step quickness and straight-line speed. He also has the ability to maintain this speed with the puck, causing havoc for flatfooted opponents. He will need to get stronger to be able to go up against the bigger defenseman in the NHL, as even in the AHL he has a tendency to stick around the perimeter and avoid contact.

Puck handling:

Above-Average - Lysell has the puck on a string most times in the offensive zone, keeping the puck tight to his body to hold off defenders. While he runs into trouble with getting the puck knocked off his stick with physicality, he rarely gets stick checked due to his deft movements with the puck. He also has a great playmaking touch, an ability to perform deceptive passes to the slot and point for high-danger scoring chances. He does run into some trouble forcing pucks to the middle of the ice which gets broken up by pro defenseman, but he has the smarts to adjust.

Shot:

Average - Lysell will never be known as a big goal scorer, and won’t blow you away with his shot. Even in Junior he put up low goal totals compared to his peers, and will always be more of a pass-first guy. As he puts on strength and muscle to adjust to the pro game, you could see his shot improve, but it will probably never be anything more than average.

IQ (vision, offensive and defensive anticipation, panic meter):

Above-Average - He has great vision in the offensive zone, and thrives on finding open teammates. For someone who isn’t too engaged physically, he doesn’t have a huge panic meter with the puck, and will hold on to it to find the open man, sometimes to his own detriment as when he does try to cut to the middle of the ice he gets knocked off the puck hard. (His season ended this past year on a bad hit in the middle of the ice, resulting in a suspension and lingering concussion issues for Lysell that still had him a non-contact jersey at Dev Camp) As outlined in the defensive category, his IQ in the defensive zone is good enough that he won’t hurt the team, mostly in good position in coverage and has enough smarts to break up plays. He may not be too interested in playing in the defensive zone but he will do it for the betterment of the team.

Defense:

Average - Lysell doesn’t hurt you when he’s on ice defensively, as he remains structurally sound for the most part in the defensive zone. He does have a small tendency to fly the zone early to try and gain an offensive advantage, but this is a trend you are seeing amongst high-skill forwards in the league, and is actually encouraged under Coach Jim Montgomery’s system, so it may not be as much of downfall with this Bruins team compared to other teams in the league.

Best Asset:

Skating

Biggest Concern:

Physicality/Strength

Top Tier Potential:

First Line Playmaking Forward- In a perfect world, Lysell will adapt to the physical game and make it to a point where he can go against the top defenders on the other team night after night. The pass-first forward should excel next to a player like Pastrnak on the Bruins top line. However, Lysell would have to get stronger, adjust more to the North American game, and there’s also a question of how the two would look together with their average defensive responsibility and identical tendencies to fly the zone looking for offense. It could be a potential duo that puts on a show in the offensive zone but will make fans and management haul their hair out at the other end of the ice. Lysell has a lot of work to do before he ever gets this kind of look with the Bruins, but if it works out he will be a huge point producer.

Most Likely Tier:

Middle Six - There are so many question marks in Lysell’s game that it’s hard to see him as more than a middle-six forward. Inconsistencies, injury concerns, being outmatched physically, are all reasons why he won’t be able to hang on a top line throughout an 82 game season. He has great potential to get there, but he will have to show alot more in his next couple of pro seasons.

Stylistic Comparable:

Stylistically, he’s a similar to some of the smaller guys in the league like Mitch Marner and Mat Barzal. Won’t blow you away physically or with his shot, but can be an elite playmaker with a high hockey IQ. The Bruins can only hope that he can use those smarts to become just as effective on the defensive end as Marner, who was never regarded as a two-way forward but garnered enough interest to be a Selke Finalist this season.

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