Prospect Info: Brad Lambert, 30th Overall, 2022 NHL Draft

[Finnflash]

Based on what? Also, there really isn't htat big ofa difference in ice size. No team in Finland has a 30 meter wide rink anymore.


He didn't really play at center.

Just by some of the finish posters comments it seems toxic over there for him. Better if to get him out of that environment

 

[FlappyGiraffe]

Based on what? Also, there really isn't htat big ofa difference in ice size. No team in Finland has a 30 meter wide rink anymore.


He didn't really play at center.

Putting up 100 points and winning a memorial cup playing against his peers is exactly what this kid needs to get some of his mojo back after a disastrous draft year - that's just my opinion anyway.

Complete fresh start, and no need for him to focus on the baggage/lost goodwill of fans who have soured on him in Finland last year.

 

[Thechozen1]

I fully expect that we will see him with the Thunderbirds this coming season. Sounds like a kid who lost his confidence somewhere along the way and could use a change of scenery with a contending organization that will put him in a position to succeed. Korchinski feeding him could be dynamite!!!

 

[Daximus]

Based on what? Also, there really isn't htat big ofa difference in ice size. No team in Finland has a 30 meter wide rink anymore.


He didn't really play at center.

It's less of an ice size thing and more of a get him out of Finland because they aren't capable of developing him thing.

 

[Jussi]

It's less of a ice size thing and more of a get him out of Finland because they aren't capable of developing him thing.

So the possibility that the problem might be with him and his father hasn't occurred to you?

Just by some of the finish posters comments it seems toxic over there for him. Better if to get him out of that environment

The only toxic thing in his life is his father.

 

[Daximus]

So the possibility that the problem might be with him and his father hasn't occurred to you?

Whatever that problem is he will either have to leave it at the door or bust, His dad will have absolutely no say in what happens to him over here. He doesn't have the connections to pull that off with us. If the kid signs he goes where we tell him to, plays the position we tell him to and gets the ice time we give him simple as that. His dad can whine and moan and complain all he wants it won't change how the Jets conduct their business.

Obviously he has some ability to meddle in Finland which is all the more reason to get Brad the hell out of there. He will have no such ability to meddle over here. We don't care who his dad is or what he has done.

 

[Jussi]

Whatever that problem is he will either have to leave it at the door or bust, His dad will have absolutely no say in what happens to him over here. He doesn't have the connections to pull that off with us. If the kid signs he goes where we tell him to, plays the position we tell him to and gets the ice time we give him simple as that. His dad can whine and moan and complain all he wants it won't change how the Jets conduct their business.

Obviously he has some ability to meddle in Finland which is all the more reason to get Brad the hell out of there. He will have no such ability to meddle over here. We don't care who his dad is or what he has done.

If things don't start working there either, those words will bite you in the ass.

 

[Jussi]

Putting up 100 points and winning a memorial cup playing against his peers is exactly what this kid needs to get some of his mojo back after a disastrous draft year - that's just my opinion anyway.

Complete fresh start, and no need for him to focus on the baggage/lost goodwill of fans who have soured on him in Finland last year.

Fans? We're simply observers here. At least me personally. I'm not a fan of any prospect, they're just players to me. He doesn't owe anything to us. We're more concerned FOR him over his father's medlings.

 

[Daximus]

If things don't start working there either, those words will bite you in the ass.

What do you honestly think his dad will be able to do? Call Chevy and complain?

Here's how that convo will work.

Ross: "Hey Chevy I want you to play my son more."

Chevy: "No, f*** off"

Ross: "Well then terminate my sons contract or trade him,"

Chevy: "No, f*** off."

Ross: "Well then he's not signing on his next deal."

Chevy: "Okay then he can go back to Finland and rot while we hold his rights."

Do you know how many batshit insane hockey moms and dads live in this country? We invented the hockey mom and hockey dad. I 100% guarantee you that Chevy is not concerned in the slightest about Lambert's dad.

Only way Lambert will get any power over here is if he actually becomes good. Until then he has zero leverage.

 

[FlappyGiraffe]

Fans? We're simply observers here. At least me personally. I'm not a fan of any prospect, they're just players to me. He doesn't owe anything to us. We're more concerned FOR him over his father's medlings.

Well when you put it like that it may be nice for him to play some hockey in front of fans rather than observers

Jokes aside, even if 100% of his issues last year came from him and his family it's probably best to start fresh in NA like Daximus alluded to in his post.

 

[SwedishFire]

I think this is one of the few " could turn it around".

I hope the falling gets him a wow moment.
There is some J Drouin vibes about his charachter, and we will see now, how he go from here.

Good skating and puck carrying, there is 1/2 of a ready NHL player. Can he find another way to be a positive?

If he stops puckhogging, and training on finding teammates, there is a uswful player

 

[Romang67]

It's well worth keeping in mind that the odds of making it to even 100 NHL games for a player picked around where Lambert was is about a coin flip.

 

[snowkiddin]

I just realized this means we are going to be over run with the hot take HF Fin posters again

They seem to be an opposite breed from our last go around. When Laine was here we had a bunch of, and I hope I’m using this youngster lingo correctly, Laine stans here, where everything Laine did was incredible. Now, we have a bunch of folks in here telling us Lambert is a dolt and this won’t work out.

Maybe we’ll get a better ending than the Laine saga given the differing dialogue here on HFJets.

 

[Ippenator]

It's less of an ice size thing and more of a get him out of Finland because they aren't capable of developing him thing.

Yeah, maybe in North America he could be developed like Ville Heinola - or even better like Kristian Vesalainen!

 

[snowkiddin]

Yeah, maybe in North America he could be developed like Ville Heinola - or even better like Kristian Vesalainen!

Uhhh … didn’t both of those guys go to back to Finland after their draft year?

 

[Ippenator]

Uhhh … didn’t both of those guys go to back to Finland after their draft year?

The point is that their development completely stalled when they were in North America. I have in fact difficulties of finding Finnish players in general who have really developed well with going already as young players to North America. Well, Mikko Rantanen and Kasperi Kapanen maybe could be argumented that they developed well in North America (not in fact completely sure about Kapanen), but mostly there are just bad examples.

 

[snowkiddin]

The point is that their development completely stalled when they were in North America. I have in fact difficulties of finding Finnish players in general who have really development well with going already as young players to North America. Well, Mikko Rantanen and Kasperi Kapanen maybe could be argumented that they developed well in North America (not in fact completely sure about Kapanen), but mostly there are just bad examples.

Many Jet fans think Vesalainen’s development stalled when he left the AHL to go play for Jokerit (which to be fair was in the KHL at the time, not Liiga).

As for Heinola? Well he went back to Finland in D+1, and obviously the Jets would want to bring him over eventually. I will agree that having Heinola sit in the press box and do nothing is stupid, which is something we’ve unfortunately had to deal with in Winnipeg and that wouldn’t happen in Finland, but I would argue the jury is still out on whether or not his development has stalled. He still looks to be tracking towards being a good, puck-moving top four LHD with offensive upside and smarts.

As for Lambert, I think a fresh start in North America is something that could be a positive for him. As you and Daximus were discussing, Lambert suffered from a meddling father in Finland. If he goes back to Liiga, that junk could continue. That won’t happen in North America, whether he’s playing in Seattle, or with the Moose.

 

[Jukurit]

The thing I don't understand is, why did Brad and his dad insist on staying in Finland even though it clearly wasn't working?

 

[superdeluxe]

This year should tell us everything we need to know about where Lambert is at.

I wonder what it would take to get him over to the Ice for the big Mem Cup run. You’d have to think the Ice would want to call Seattle about him, it would do a lot for the roster and the ticket booth.

Would be a tough sell but if the Thunderbirds fear he’ll be playing for the Moose they may want to get something back.

They just traded for his rights from The Blades, makes no sense to trade his rights.

 

[Zippity]

Just a nobody fan speculating here, but given the fact that Brad's uncle is Lane Lambert I have to wonder if the duality to this draft pick was, in part, a savvy and subtle move to help influence Trotz to come here? By all accounts Trotz & Lane Lambert have a good relationship and have been working together for 10+ years. Trotz would have had a more intimate view of Brad than most. And now here you have Lane's nephew going to the very team that Trotz was considering a move to.

Just spitballing but curious on opinions. Again, I'm a nobody and just thinking out

There is even a Dennis Beyak connection with Lanes father
Lol

 

[Ippenator]

Many Jet fans think Vesalainen’s development stalled when he left the AHL to go play for Jokerit (which to be fair was in the KHL at the time, not Liiga).

As for Heinola? Well he went back to Finland in D+1, and obviously the Jets would want to bring him over eventually. I will agree that having Heinola sit in the press box and do nothing is stupid, which is something we’ve unfortunately had to deal with in Winnipeg and that wouldn’t happen in Finland, but I would argue the jury is still out on whether or not his development has stalled. He still looks to be tracking towards being a good, puck-moving top four LHD with offensive upside and smarts.

As for Lambert, I think a fresh start in North America is something that could be a positive for him. As you and Daximus were discussing, Lambert suffered from a meddling father in Finland. If he goes back to Liiga, that junk could continue. That won’t happen in North America, whether he’s playing in Seattle, or with the Moose.

I’m not disagreeing with you here. In general I don’t even believe in a player developing much better in Finland or in North America. A good player will develop eventually well in either, and I don’t definitely believe that training in either is at least clearly better than the other. Maybe for some certain individual the other is a bit better than the other, but the difference can’t still be enormous. The more important thing is that they get trust from their coaches and get to play a lot. Heinola’s situation isn’t really optimal for any player’s development.

The coach issue is why I could see @Jussi ’s suggestion of Lambert going to play in Jukurit under Olli Jokinen’s coaching, as a really good option in his situation. Young promising players whose development had seriously stalled, really flourished under Jokinen last season. He seems to understand really well what kind of trust and motivating the young and promising players need.

The problematic thing about staying in Finland is exactly what you were emphasizing - he would be still too much under control of his meddling father. Although if Jokinen’s coaching would work with Brad, maybe Brad’s father would be also calmer.

 

[ps241]

Opinion is like a buthole and everyone has own.
But only time will tell what future brings for Brad Lambert.

I'm not his biggest fan and i think he'll at least disappoint but being a bust is not out of question.
All depends that how well Jets and GM Chevy can keep Ross Lambert out of Brad's development process.
I read today somewhere internet ( i don't remember exactly where ) that Ross Lambet knows Chevy very well
thanks for his ( Chevy's ) Saskatchewan ( is that right ) years and that's not a good thing in my opinion.

Hopefully Chevy is able to keep all strings on his hands
because if Chevy lost the control then Ross Lambert starts running the show
and demand special treatment for Brad and that's not the way how to run NHL organisation
and develop your prospects

Chevy knows Brad Lambert from their time in Saskatoon. Ross never moved to Saskatoon so I don’t think they would have the same relationship.

I know papa Nylander was pretty crazy according to many. He ended up interfering with Alex’s career allot and even to the point of coaching on the steelheads so he could influence his kids usage. Claude Lemieux and Tie Domi are couple of crazy high maintenance hockey dads, Lemieux taking it to the point of becoming Brendan’s agent.

Is Ross Brad’s agent?

 

[mattihp]

I’m not disagreeing with you here. In general I don’t even believe in a player developing much better in Finland or in North America. A good player will develop eventually well in either, and I don’t definitely believe that training in either is at least clearly better than the other. Maybe for some certain individual the other is a bit better than the other, but the difference can’t still be enormous. The more important thing is that they get trust from their coaches and get to play a lot. Heinola’s situation isn’t really optimal for any player’s development.

The coach issue is why I could see @Jussi ’s suggestion of Lambert going to play in Jukurit under Olli Jokinen’s coaching, as a really good option in his situation. Young promising players whose development had seriously stalled, really flourished under Jokinen last season. He seems to understand really well what kind of trust and motivating the young and promising players need.

The problematic thing about staying in Finland is exactly what you were emphasizing - he would be still too much under control of his meddling father. Although if Jokinen’s coaching would work with Brad, maybe Brad’s father would be also calmer.

Jokinen himself was an enigmatic talent. He came to the NHL expecting to be pampered and scoring right out of the gates. After some time he seemed to be a poor fourth liner until he met someone who believed in two things: hardwork and good ol' pumpkinhead. That man was Keenan who both ran Olli ragged and gave him every opportunity to succeed.

 

[ps241]

Yeah, maybe in North America he could be developed like Ville Heinola - or even better like Kristian Vesalainen!

I quite like Ville’s game right now and still have high hopes. That being said his time in the press box was mind numbing. Seems like he was the one prospect Chevy and Maurice openly disagreed on.

I am one of the few posters on our board that prefers to leave the Europeans in Europe to develop unless they played their junior in NA.

That being said with Lambert it might help to move to a different continent as far away from his dad as possible (unless his dad follows him of course ).

 

[boydkc]

Opinion is like a buthole and everyone has own.
But only time will tell what future brings for Brad Lambert.

I'm not his biggest fan and i think he'll at least disappoint but being a bust is not out of question.
All depends that how well Jets and GM Chevy can keep Ross Lambert out of Brad's development process.
I read today somewhere internet ( i don't remember exactly where ) that Ross Lambet knows Chevy very well
thanks for his ( Chevy's ) Saskatchewan ( is that right ) years and that's not a good thing in my opinion.

Hopefully Chevy is able to keep all strings on his hands
because if Chevy lost the control then Ross Lambert starts running the show
and demand special treatment for Brad and that's not the way how to run NHL organisation
and develop your prospects

Interesting that Saskatoon had this kids WHL rights but traded him as far away from his dad as possible in the last month to Seattle …