C Brad Lambert - HIFK U20, Jr. A SM-liiga (2022 Draft)

[ChicagoBullsFan]

People who are whining / complaining Lambert's not so good game vs Kärpät tonight should realize few facts.
1 Kärpät is top team and regular season leader in SM liiga.
So it's not so simple to 16 yrs old kid score and dominate against team like that.
2 One not so good game for 16 yrs old Lambert won't make him bad player.
3 Teenagers rarely dominate in SM liiga when they are playing their first liiga games.
4 Only reason why Lambert is getting icetime in HIFK's liiga roster
is that HIFK has a lot injuries and when injured players are all back Lambert will return to HIFK's A juniors. His time to be liiga regular is next season not this season.

Lambert is fantastic prospect and one not so good liiga game won't ruin that fact.
And if someone / someones expected Lambert scores 4+1 / 5+1 vs Kärpät i'm very sorry it didn't happen.

 

[JustaFinnishGuy]

The only positive things I got from the game was Aaltonen for us and seeing how smooth Lambert's skating is. He'll be a threat for sure when he fills out his size.

 

[FinPanda]

People who are whining / complaining Lambert's not so good game vs Kärpät tonight should realize few facts.
1 Kärpät is top team and regular season leader in SM liiga.
So it's not so simple to 16 yrs old kid score and dominate against team like that.
2 One not so good game for 16 yrs old Lambert won't make him bad player.
3 Teenagers rarely dominate in SM liiga when they are playing their first liiga games.
4 Only reason why Lambert is getting icetime in HIFK's liiga roster
is that HIFK has a lot injuries and when injured players are all back Lambert will return to HIFK's A juniors. His time to be liiga regular is next season not this season.

Lambert is fantastic prospect and one not so good liiga game won't ruin that fact.
And if someone / someones expected Lambert scores 4+1 / 5+1 vs Kärpät i'm very sorry it didn't happen.

I don't see any complaining or whining about Lambert's game..

 

[Zub]

I don't see any complaining or whining about Lambert's game..

Yeah me neither haha

 

[Zub]

Him not having a good game really wasn't his fault, if he was playing with Lundell who has a brain unlike Sallinen it would have been a whole different outcome, i hope the coach has brains enough to not let Sallinen play with him.

 

[Mysteric1000]

Are you watching the game? Sallinen is a huge anchor. Lambert needs to be put with Lundell.

And they need to have instant "Puljujärvi-Aho-Laine" type of chemistry after they've played only 2 games together as a first line?

HIFK have switched lines pretty often during this ssn and that cant create a harmony for everyone. If Sallinen/Paajanen havent had the greatest ssn so far it doesnt mean that they are overly useless players. Or did Jalonen chose a useless Sallinen for the gold medal winning Team Finland in 2019 WC or was Paajanen just an anchor for HPK en route to Liiga championship last ssn?

I watched the game, lets say by slices here and there. And the reason for that is pretty much because I'm father of two kids who needs to handle sometimes other duties aswell, not just watch hockey only.

I saw Lambert being available for passes couple of times, but if there were close gap between him and Kärpät defenceman, theres no really reasons to pass for a guy who might be getting nailed with it.

I also remembered flashes of first lines 2 counterattacks were Lambert drove to the net without the puck and Paajanen took a shot there but Annunen controlled rebound very well not giving Lambert a chance to put the puck in to the wide open net. Then another one in the third, were was it Sallinen got the turnover and skated to thru the neutral zone to the offensive zone and Lambert with his speed created it a successfull 2vs1. The pass didnt connected cleanly cuz of interception, but Lambert almost culd get enough of it just to create some harm for Annunen.

Paajanen and Sallinen PP unit was also effective and even if they scored clearly one offside goal on PP they didnt really gave Lambert chances to show on the PP either.

So what I noticed Lambert there couple of times on the ice, I wuldnt put it too much for his linemates either. They werent just put on a show this time, even if Kärpät either didnt have the greatest game.

Today vs the same team back to back and hopefully we will see more Lambert on the ice and from his line overall.

 

[lakai17]

Similar to Swedish Douglas Murray although different positions.

 

[FinPanda]

Similar to Swedish Douglas Murray although different positions.

Thats an underwhelming comparison.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

I don't understand some of these comparisons.

He's a lot more of a goal-scoring threat off the shot than Barzal and Hughes. Those guys are almost exclusively playmakers. I also think there's a huge difference in skating power between Lambert and Hughes. Lambert skates with a lot more power, Hughes skates with more fluidity and edges. The elder Hughes brothers have some of the best edges in hockey. Lambert has very good edges, as does Barzal, but I don't know if those two are the same level with their edges as Hughes. Hughes also probably won't stay in the middle of the ice, while Lambert almost certainly will. He's not that similar to Kucherov either because he plays the middle of the ice, Kucherov doesn't, and I think he's a lot better of an overall skater. Kucherov skates well, but it's nowhere near the threat that Lambert's skating is.

I've said that MacKinnon is the best comparison, and I'm going to still say it. The skating is very similar, in my opinion. Extremely fast and powerful skating to go along with the ability to stickhandle at high speeds, and be an almost equally dangerous threat off the shot and pass. One other big similarity that I see is that they have a very good ability to score with quick strike offense. They can dominate possession, but their ability to turn nothing into a quick scoring chance is a lot better than Hughes and Barzal. Hughes and Barzal like to stickhandle the puck a full shift, and regularly play at a slow pace. Lambert and MacKinnon don't.

 

[Zub]

Similar to Swedish Douglas Murray although different positions.

LOL

 

[Mysteric1000]

I don't understand some of these comparisons.

He's a lot more of a goal-scoring threat off the shot than Barzal and Hughes. Those guys are almost exclusively playmakers. I also think there's a huge difference in skating power between Lambert and Hughes. Lambert skates with a lot more power, Hughes skates with more fluidity and edges. The elder Hughes brothers have some of the best edges in hockey. Lambert has very good edges, as does Barzal, but I don't know if those two are the same level with their edges as Hughes. Hughes also probably won't stay in the middle of the ice, while Lambert almost certainly will. He's not that similar to Kucherov either because he plays the middle of the ice, Kucherov doesn't, and I think he's a lot better of an overall skater. Kucherov skates well, but it's nowhere near the threat that Lambert's skating is.

I've said that MacKinnon is the best comparison, and I'm going to still say it. The skating is very similar, in my opinion. Extremely fast and powerful skating to go along with the ability to stickhandle at high speeds, and be an almost equally dangerous threat off the shot and pass. One other big similarity that I see is that they have a very good ability to score with quick strike offense. They can dominate possession, but their ability to turn nothing into a quick scoring chance is a lot better than Hughes and Barzal. Hughes and Barzal like to stickhandle the puck a full shift, and regularly play at a slow pace. Lambert and MacKinnon don't.

Good evaluation from u here.

I think what originally brought Barzal to my mind was, how Lambert looked in lower levels basically. He culd even choose there when to slow the game and find another options to make plays. But after developing he has shown that straightforward north-south skating with the twist of explosive crossovers Mackinnon has. I didnt saw so much of that multi-threat before but when he moved to A-juniors particularly his release improved and he has found the back of the net with good pace ever since aswell.

Tho his hockey sense I've found advanced comparing to Barzal but I still preferred that "more straightforward version of Matt Barzal" comparison.

Now in liiga after 4 games played, and improved two-way game aswell I can easily think MacKinnon as closest comparison for him.

Another stylistic comparison Ive heard is Jack Eichel and even there are similarities of how they bring the puck up ice thru the neutral zone, but thats pretty much about it just yet, cuz Lambert is physically still just a kid tho.

Comparisons are funny to make even if the styles of play still might be completely different when they age and find themselves in the big league - theres still nothing wrong imo, not even those further-fetched ones just yet imo.

 

[Zub]

Good evaluation from u here.

I think what originally brought Barzal to my mind was, how Lambert looked in lower levels basically. He culd even choose there when to slow the game and find another options to make plays. But after developing he has shown that straightforward north-south skating with the twist of explosive crossovers Mackinnon has. I didnt saw so much of that multi-threat before but when he moved to A-juniors particularly his release improved and he has found the back of the net with good pace ever since aswell.

Tho his hockey sense I've found advanced comparing to Barzal but I still preferred that "more straightforward version of Matt Barzal" comparison.

Now in liiga after 4 games played, and improved two-way game aswell I can easily think MacKinnon as closest comparison for him.

Another stylistic comparison Ive heard is Jack Eichel and even there are similarities of how they bring the puck up ice thru the neutral zone, but thats pretty much about it just yet, cuz Lambert is physically still just a kid tho.

Comparisons are funny to make even if the styles of play still might be completely different when they age and find themselves in the big league - theres still nothing wrong imo, not even those further-fetched ones just yet imo.

Skating wise he is nothing like Eichel, Eichel don't move his feet much which Lambert does alot.

 

[tellermine]

Skating wise he is nothing like Eichel, Eichel don't move his feet much which Lambert does alot.

Well Eichel is mutch taller dude with long legs.

 

[Mysteric1000]

Skating wise he is nothing like Eichel, Eichel don't move his feet much which Lambert does alot.

Yup. Hes closest to MacKinnon in skating department. But theres a slight similarity to Eichel, when it comes to delivering the puck up ice with poise and confidence.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Good evaluation from u here.

I think what originally brought Barzal to my mind was, how Lambert looked in lower levels basically. He culd even choose there when to slow the game and find another options to make plays. But after developing he has shown that straightforward north-south skating with the twist of explosive crossovers Mackinnon has. I didnt saw so much of that multi-threat before but when he moved to A-juniors particularly his release improved and he has found the back of the net with good pace ever since aswell.

Tho his hockey sense I've found advanced comparing to Barzal but I still preferred that "more straightforward version of Matt Barzal" comparison.

Now in liiga after 4 games played, and improved two-way game aswell I can easily think MacKinnon as closest comparison for him.

Another stylistic comparison Ive heard is Jack Eichel and even there are similarities of how they bring the puck up ice thru the neutral zone, but thats pretty much about it just yet, cuz Lambert is physically still just a kid tho.

Comparisons are funny to make even if the styles of play still might be completely different when they age and find themselves in the big league - theres still nothing wrong imo, not even those further-fetched ones just yet imo.

I mostly agree. I would say that in comparison to Eichel, I think that Shane Wright is more like Eichel. I think the stride lengths are similar in the ground they cover, and how they control the puck. The physical frames are also similar.

I’m not a skating expert, but how I would assess their skating is that MacKinnon has shorter, choppier steps, but with the ability to accelerate at near McDavid levels in smaller bursts. Eichel’s stride is longer, more consistent in its speed, but that speed is a high speed and mechanically the stride is about as good as you’ll see.

I think if the 2022 draft produces a player comparable to MacKinnon (Lambert) and to Eichel (Wright), it’s well on its way to being an excellent draft. I also think that there are going to be some other top level prospects emerge in this draft.

 

[Conspiracy Theorist]

A bit of Eichel and MacKinnon. A great skater and not just fast only.

 

[teravaineSAROS]

"Finnish"?

Born in Finland, lived in Finland 99% of his life, Finnish mother, Finnish nationality...

Sounds pretty Finnish to me, no quotations needed.


Like holy shit, Auston Matthews's mother is from Mexico, but I'm yet to see anyone call Matthews "American". You rude.

It's weird cos nobody's calling Eric Lindros, Oliver Wahlstrom or Aaron Ekblad Swedish... Paul Stastny Slovak... Arthur Kaliyev Russian or Jake Virtanen or Matt Niskanen Finnish.. but if a European has a Canadian surname they're suddenly Canadian?

There are so many North American players with European parents.. it's not a big deal. Just let the kid play wherever.

 

[teravaineSAROS]

A bit of Eichel and MacKinnon. A great skater and not just fast only.

Refreshing to see considering the skating development is a bit behind in Finland. Aside from the Haulas, Heiskanens and Kapanens out there; many of the Finnish prospects only become good skaters once they're in North America.

edit: I forgot Haula's most important years of skating development happened in the US which just adds to my concern.

I never expected Aho or Hintz to be the skaters they are today for example.

 

[Ippenator]

Refreshing to see considering the skating development is a bit behind in Finland. Aside from the Haulas, Heiskanens and Kapanens out there; many of the Finnish prospects only become good skaters once they're in North America.

edit: I forgot Haula's most important years of skating development happened in the US which just adds to my concern.

I never expected Aho or Hintz to be the skaters they are today for example.

Aho and Hintz have always been great skaters. And they have developed their skating in Finland with Finnish trainers. They train summers always in Finland, like almost every Finnish player does. People are a bit lost with this skating issue. Sure Finland has only a few truly excellent skaters. But so what? It only goes hand in hand with the total amount of top class players there are from each countries. Finland has those a lot less than Canada and USA, so it would be pretty insane to expect to have even close to as many exceptional skaters as those countries have.

Look at the other smaller sized countries that play hockey and how few truly exceptional skaters they have. Sweden, Czech, Slovakia and Switzerland don’t have any more of really good skaters than Finland has. And their best players are really usually much more about other skills than magnificent skating.

Also a good thing to remember is that most of the latest Finnish top talents have been really big with size, which very often makes the skating development much more difficult and takes longer until really good results are seen, especially if the player isn’t a real natural talent with his skating and doesn’t have a great amount of fast twitched muscle cells in the legs. Just look at the sizes of the best Canadian and American skaters and you should realize that none of them are 6’3 tall or taller, like most of the best Finnish young talents are.

Skaters like McDavid, Ehlers, Larkin and Heiskanen (none of them big by size btw) didn’t really become the real top class of skaters because of a specific training, but because they are natural talents with big amounts of fast twitch muscle cells in their legs. Sure they have added something with training, but they have always been exceptional skaters compared to most of their peers.

Skating is honestly anyway overestimated. By itself it isn’t even close to as important as quick thinking and smarts with the puck and with the positioning are. Fast and quick skating can for sure add nice things, but not that much unless you have the very much needed hockey IQ and strength to use it well and efficiently.

 

[teravaineSAROS]

Aho and Hintz have always been great skaters. And they have developed their skating in Finland with Finnish trainers. They train summers always in Finland, like almost every Finnish player does. People are a bit lost with this skating issue. Sure Finland has only a few truly excellent skaters. But so what? It only goes hand in hand with the total amount of top class players there are from each countries. Finland has those a lot less than Canada and USA, so it would be pretty insane to expect to have even close to as many exceptional skaters as those countries have.

Look at the other smaller sized countries that play hockey and how few truly exceptional skaters they have. Sweden, Czech, Slovakia and Switzerland don’t have any more of really good skaters than Finland has. And their best players are really usually much more about other skills than magnificent skating.

Also a good thing to remember is that most of the latest Finnish top talents have been really big with size, which very often makes the skating development much more difficult and takes longer until really good results are seen, especially if the player isn’t a real natural talent with his skating and doesn’t have a great amount of fast twitched muscle cells in the legs. Just look at the sizes of the best Canadian and American skaters and you should realize that none of them are 6’3 tall or taller, like most of the best Finnish young talents are.

Skaters like McDavid, Ehlers, Larkin and Heiskanen (none of them big by size btw) didn’t really become the real top class of skaters because of a specific training, but because they are natural talents with big amounts of fast twitch muscle cells in their legs. Sure they have added something with training, but they have always been exceptional skaters compared to most of their peers.

Skating is honestly anyway overestimated. By itself it isn’t even close to as important as quick thinking and smarts with the puck and with the positioning are. Fast and quick skating can for sure add nice things, but not that much unless you have the very much needed hockey IQ and strength to use it well and efficiently.

Hintz and Aho were good skaters but not nearly as good as today. I never reacted to their skating one way or another until pretty recently when they started standing out more.

You're making a good point about the size correlation though. I'm definitely not arguing that skating is the most important aspect to a player and I agree people make a bigger deal of it than it is, but I personally believe it's the only part of development where Finland is behind Canada, USA, Sweden, Russia and arguably Czech Republic (lack of sample size there, but they got plenty of up and comers that are all great skaters).

I know many of them train in Finland as adults and develop a lot but the junior development is where it's lacking.

 

[canuck2010]

I don't see any complaining or whining about Lambert's game..

My only complaint with his game is that he will play for Finland. (Damn Canadian hockey Travellers). At least not the Yanks. Best to him.

 

[Ippenator]

Hintz and Aho were good skaters but not nearly as good as today. I never reacted to their skating one way or another until pretty recently when they started standing out more.

You're making a good point about the size correlation though. I'm definitely not arguing that skating is the most important aspect to a player and I agree people make a bigger deal of it than it is, but I personally believe it's the only part of development where Finland is behind Canada, USA, Sweden, Russia and arguably Czech Republic (lack of sample size there, but they got plenty of up and comers that are all great skaters).

I know many of them train in Finland as adults and develop a lot but the junior development is where it's lacking.

I disagree with your comment how Sweden and the Czechs have better skating development than Finland. Sweden has usually been a typical example of a country producing excellent players with usually exactly other skills making them top class than exceptional skating. Sure their top class players have been usually good or even pretty good with their skating, but honestly I don't remember any really excellent Swedish top class skating players in the way that Finland had in Teemu Selänne.

The best Swedish players have usually been pretty good skaters like Mats Sundin, Peter Forsberg, Niklas Lidström, the Sedin twins (probably the worst skaters of the top Swedes) Niklas Bäckström, Filip Forsberg, Elias Pettersson and Rasmus Dahlin - none of them were or are any kind of exceptional skaters. Each of them had/has good to pretty good skating skills, but nothing even close to exceptional skating. But they have had other skills that have been exceptional even at the top class level, and that has made them truly great players.

The best Swedish skater right now is probably Carl Hagelund, but he isn’t otherwise an exceptional player, although a pretty good player at the moment. This is anyway the case quite often with the best skaters - that they are as players only pretty good at best. Speedsters like McDavid and MacKinnon who have exceptional other skills too and have the brain to use their top class skating, these players are an extreme rarity in the top class hockey. This is also why I think that skating speed and quickness are overemphasized, when in reality the puck movement is always much faster than the fastest skaters, and thus the quickest and smartest players that have great puck movement skills and strength to hold on to the puck when it’s needed, they will be the best players. As long as their skating is at least on an above average level.

 

[Zub]

Look at the other smaller sized countries that play hockey and how few truly exceptional skaters they have. Sweden, Czech, Slovakia and Switzerland don’t have any more of really good skaters than Finland has.

What? Yes they do, especially Sweden has way more talent skating wise, even smaller ones like Switzerland produces fine skaters all the time, Finland is medicore at it right now and it really shows, it's a big hole in or program and needs to be fixed asap. Rautala is a black hole for youngsters tbh.

 

[Ippenator]

What? Yes they do, especially Sweden has way more talent skating wise, even smaller ones like Switzerland produces fine skaters all the time, Finland is medicore at it right now and it really shows, it's a big hole in or program and needs to be fixed asap. Rautala is a black hole for youngsters tbh.

So tell some examples of great Swedish skaters at the moment that are also top class players otherwise? I can point out right away that the best skater of the top class Finnish forwards beats every top class Swedish forward with his skating. That player is Aho (or if we include defencemen too, it is Heiskanen). Nylander is probably the closest to the class of Aho with his skating, but Aho is still better as a player in general.

Pettersson is also a pretty good skater and he is definitely better as a player than Nylander and probably a bit better than Aho also, but not because of his skating specificly, but because of his very versatile skills in general. None of the top class Swedish forwards are even close to the size that the most talented young Finns like Barkov, Rantanen and Laine are, so it is really quite useless to compare their general skating, because big guys will anyway lose a bit with their agility and their quickness, although they can develop them gradually. Same happened with Barkov who hasn't ever trained with Rautala, so it’s completely clueless to claim that Rautala has done any harm to the bigger sized Finnish young talents. In fact Rantanen is nowadays a very good skater, especially for his big size.

Laine has also clearly developed gradually. His skating has been this season better than ever before. Last season he had unfortunately still back problems and it made his development not happen in a very linear way. But he is definitely on the right path. The top class trainer Marko Yrjövuori, who has been the trainer of one of the all time greatest physically conditioned athletes in Kobe Bryant, has himself been working with Laine at the same time as Rautala and he approves Laine’s training, so just cut the crap really.

Kakko is also training with Rautala, and he will gradually develop also with his physical issues (weak legs and need of better physical condition and strength), but he was even a bit weaker skater than Laine in the first place, so there is for sure a lot of work to do with him before any real substantial results will be seen. Would be idiotic to expect to see any great change with his skating before two or three off seasons of strengthening his legs and core.

Some of you guys are honestly very badly informed on how really great skaters become great skaters. You are born to be a top class skater. If you don’t have that natural ability, no kind of training will make you a great skater. But you can develop from a naturally not talented skater to become a pretty good or even a very good skater. Just not a truly great or exceptional skater. But it takes many years of hard work to do that if you aren’t born with the big amount of fast twitch muscle cells in the legs. And that kind of hard work is not optimal when you are still a youngster whose body is still growing. It is more efficient when the player is really already done with body growth.

 

[ChicagoBullsFan]