Going into the 2019-20-season, Anton Lundell was widely considered to be a top-three prospect after impressing in his rookie campaign with HIFK from Finnish capital Helsinki. Even though he impressed in Liiga as a 17-year-old, he ended up falling out of the top 10 before the Florida Panthers picked him up with the 12th overall selection.
Last year, the presumptive first overall selection heading into the 2020-21 campaign was Uleåborg native Aatu Räty. One rough season in Liiga later, and Räty not only lost out on being the first ever Finnish player selected as number one overall, but even tumbled out of the entire first round before being scooped up by the New York Islanders at pick 52.