WINNIPEG — Brad Lambert understands the opportunity he has this season to earn a top-six forward spot with the Winnipeg Jets.
“I’m super excited,” the 20-year-old said during Jets development camp last month. “Obviously there’s a lot of work ahead of me this summer. So that’s kind of my thought process, taking it a day at a time, trying to get as much better as I can. So that come training camp I’m ready to compete.”
The immediacy of Lambert’s opportunity seemingly has been amplified in the wake of comments by Jets general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff on July 1, the day Winnipeg lost top-six forwards Sean Monahan (Columbus Blue Jackets) and Tyler Toffoli (San Jose Sharks) in free agency.
“If I’m a young player in the Jets organization today, I’m pretty excited about the opportunities that are in front of me and I’m working pretty hard in the offseason to make sure that I take full advantage,” Cheveldayoff said then.
Lambert, a first-round pick (No. 30) in the 2022 NHL Draft, appears primed to make the NHL leap, possibly into a second-line role with forwards Cole Perfetti and Nikolaj Ehlers.
“There are players that we’ve seen that have come through this, like [defenseman] Josh Morrissey, [with] how prepared he was for his opportunity when he came along,” Jets director of player development Jimmy Roy said. “All of the work, he had put it in, in the American [Hockey] League. He came here and had an impact right away. Sometimes those opportunities don’t come for a while. You don’t know when they’re coming but you’ve got to be prepared for them.”
Lambert, in his first professional season in North America, led Manitoba of the AHL with 55 points (21 goals, 34 assists) in 64 games last season and was named to the AHL All-Rookie Team.
His outstanding season earned him his first NHL game. Lambert had an assist in Winnipeg’s regular-season finale, a 4-2 win against the Vancouver Canucks at Canada Life Centre. The experience allowed him to assess where he was in his development.
“To be able to get to see where I’m kind of at, get to see the atmosphere that it was to play in front of the [NHL] crowd in Winnipeg, it was an unbelievable feeling,” Lambert said. “And I guess that just drives me to want more of that.”
Lambert (6-foot-1, 173 pounds) said he wants to get better at face-offs, increase his strength to help in corner battles, and improve his defensive-zone play. But the development in his leadership and his character just may be leaving the greatest impression on Winnipeg management.
“It says a lot about a player like Brad Lambert who doesn’t have to come here but wants to come here and be a part of it and take on that leadership role,” Cheveldayoff said during Jets development camp. “You are not asking a player to be or do anything that they’re not, but I do think part of the process is that you do see players do grow year over year. Not only physically but emotionally, mentally. That is the essence of when you have young players is seeing them grow, seeing them come into their own, having confidence, not only to carry a puck down the ice but to have the confidence to go and sit with a first-year guy and say, ‘How’s it going? How’s your day?’ That’s just part of the process.”