Big Bad Brad has speed to kill

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This article was published 03/10/2022 (1070 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Speed kills. And there’s no question Brad Lambert has the wheels you need to play the highest level of hockey. He’s already elite in that category.

How quickly the 18-year-old Finnish prospect can pick up all the other facets of the NHL game will ultimately determine whether he sticks around with the Winnipeg Jets beyond what’s been an impressive first training camp.

“He hasn’t played his way out of here yet. I love working with kids and this kid has got a few more days to develop and to see where it goes,” a clearly intrigued coach Rick Bowness said following Monday’s practice at Bell MTS Iceplex.

“What he does, we can’t teach. You can’t teach what that kid does with speed. It’s unreal how fast he is. We’ll teach him how to play the game and understand the game a little better. That will be our job, but some of the things he does, that’s just natural and it’s beautiful to watch when he gets going.”

Lambert has opened plenty of eyes, and maybe dropped a few jaws, in the two pre-season games in which he’s appeared so far. He followed up last Thursday’s one goal, one assist debut in Montreal with another strong outing Saturday against Edmonton. A highlight-reel assist was wiped off on an offside challenge, and his three overtime shifts were worth the price of admission.

“First of all, you’ve got to be able to keep up to the pace and he can keep up to pace, he’s a NHL skater. The pace, the speed of the game won’t be an issue,” said Bowness.

“The timing mentally, as you’re making plays out there, you’re not going to have as much time. That’s the adjustment that he’ll have to make and the intensity of the one-on-one battles goes way up. Those are the adjustments that, if he’s here opening night, and again, let’s not get way ahead of ourselves here — let’s keep those things in mind.”

Lambert will get a third straight look Wednesday when the Jets host the Calgary Flames at Canada Life Centre. The 30th-overall pick in last summer’s draft was on a line at Monday’s practice with Dominic Toninato (likely a placeholder for Pierre-Luc Dubois, who sat out with a minor injury) and 20-year-old Cole Perfetti.

“Honestly I didn’t know how it was going to go,” Lambert said Monday of his expectations. “I just came in here. Every day is a new opportunity. Trying to do everything I can to take advantage of every opportunity I get. Just work hard every day and learn every day.”

Lambert was sidelined by injury for much of the first week of training camp but hasn’t looked out of place at all since joining the main group.

“Obviously it’s a faster pace than I’ve played at before,” Lambert said of what he’s noticed so far. “Everyone’s going hard all the time. You really gotta skate, especially in our system. You gotta skate a lot, forecheck constantly. You can’t go too long of shift, you try to keep yourself fresh so you can forecheck, backcheck as hard as you can.”

Jets star centre Mark Scheifele made a huge splash in his first training camp in 2011, leading the team in pre-season scoring as an 18-year-old. That earned him a starting role once the regular-season began, but it ended up being just seven games before he was sent back to Barrie of the Ontario Hockey League.

“I was like, ‘Wow, this isn’t that bad. I can play in this league.’ And then I played my first regular-season game and it was not the same animal,” said Scheifele. “That is something you definitely have to caution on. The pre-season is a different animal than the regular season. But at the time, I was kind of high on life and then the first couple of games brought me down to earth.”

In other words, it’s important to proceed with caution when dealing with young players.

Winnipeg has just 25 skaters left on the active roster — Kristian Reichel was sent to the Manitoba Moose on Monday, and Kevin Stenlund will join him provided he clears waivers. That means there are just four expected cuts to come. Lambert is one of 15 remaining forwards (Winnipeg will likely keep 13 around), while two of the remaining 10 defencemen will be cut.

A couple years ago, Lambert was being touted as a potential top three NHL draft pick. But a couple tough years playing in the top men’s league in Finland against older, bigger stronger opponents caused his stock to fall. In that sense, he’s already battle-tested in a way that a typical junior hockey player might not be.

“I said all along it might not be the best thing for the short run in terms of putting up a bunch of numbers, but it will help my overall game in terms of my readiness for the next level to play men’s hockey,” said Lambert. “Back in Europe it’s a really defensive league and you need to be responsible in both ends. I think that helped me quite a bit.”

Lambert has yet to sign an entry-level contract with the Jets, although that could happen quickly. The NHL, the AHL and even assigning him to Seattle of the Western Hockey League (which owns his junior rights) are all options.

“I’m just 18 years old. Just going out there every day and doing my best. And just seeing what happens. That’s all I can really control,” said Lambert, who has earned a couple nicknames from his new Jets teammates, including “Big Bad Brad” from veteran defenceman Nate Schmidt.

“I like it. I didn’t think I was that big, but I’ll take it,” said the 6-1, 175-pounder. “Another one they’ve come up with here is Lambo, that’s what they mostly call me. But I like Big Bad Brad.”

Speaking of having fun, Monday’s skate began with a scrimmage in which every player had to use the wrong-handed stick, and goaltenders weren’t allowed any. As you can imagine, hilarity ensued.

“You’ve got to have a little fun, it’s training camp. We’ll do that quite a few times during the season. It’s still a game and it’s a long training camp,” said Bowness. He singled out Nikolaj Ehlers for being “unreal as a righty.”

“He threw a couple of right-handed saucers and it shocked me. I can’t make those on my natural hand,” said Bowness.

Lambert, a righty, said he won’t be switching sides anytime soon.

“I don’t think I did very well with the puck. Mostly trying to work on my two way game out there,” he joked. “It was tough.”

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @mikemcintyrewpg