It’s looking like Lambos for No. 1 pick
Winnipeg defenceman ranked at the top as WHL bantam draft set to unfold Thursday
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 01/05/2018 (2749 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
If he knows, Carson Lambos isn’t saying.
For months, the 6-0, 180-pound defenceman from Winnipeg has been projected by many as the No. 1 overall pick in Thursday’s Western Hockey League bantam draft. The Edmonton Oil Kings, winners of the recent league’s draft lottery, own the choice.
Lambos has spoken to the Oil Kings but they have given him no direct indication he will be their choice. Forwards Zack Stringer of Lethbridge, Alta., and Logan Stankoven of Yale Hockey Academy in Abbotsford, B.C., and hulking defenceman Nolan Allan of Humboldt, Sask., also are believed to be candidates for the top slot.
“I don’t know; I’m going to have to wait till Thursday to find out,” said the affable 15-year-old Lambos, who played for the Rink Hockey Academy’s bantam prep squad in 2017-18. “Nothing’s for sure until it happens. We’ll have to wait and see.”
If he’s selected first, Lambos would become the fifth Manitoban in 23 years to get the call.
“I wouldn’t say it’s important,” Lambos said. “It would be cool, an honour to go No. 1 — but No. 2 or even 3, it all looks pretty good.”
Lambos led the Nationals to a second-place finish in the Canadian Sport School Hockey League and his coach, Brad Purdie, had high praise for the left-handed shooting blue-liner. He said Lambos excels in every situation and has pushed himself to improve.
“Carson’s a strong guy, too, and he’s got real good endurance,” Purdie said. “He’s always working on his game, in the gym and on the ice. So he knows what he wants to do — he wants to be a hockey player.”
Lambos is at the forefront of a recent trend in elite hockey, where the majority of the best bantam prospects are migrating to the prep academies that have sprouted across Western Canada.
In fact, of the 200-plus players born in 2003 to be chosen in Thursday’s draft, more than half are expected to come from CSSHL teams. Furthermore, it’s likely that only three of the 22 players picked in the first round will have spent the 2017-18 season in more traditional AAA hockey.
Lambos is considered a premium talent. Some talent evaluators believe he is comparable to current NHL stars Jonathan Toews and Nolan Patrick, who both played minor hockey in Winnipeg.
Lambos has a high-profile agent (CAA’s Mark Mackay) and a firm idea of how he wants to reach his goal of playing in the NHL — which means playing in the WHL.
“It’s just better, the best route for me,” Lambos said. “The way I developed, (it was) pretty young. I think I want to continue my development at a young age in major junior.”
Carson’s older brother Jonny signed with the Wheat Kings after being acquired in a trade with the Victoria Royals and played one game this season in Brandon.
RHA had nine players drafted by WHL teams in 2017 and Purdie expects a similar number in 2018. Two of Lambos’ teammates, forward Eric Alarie and goaltender Tyler Brennan, are also good bets to go in the first round.
Brennan has heard the pre-draft buzz suggesting he could be picked by one of the two teams — Edmonton and Prince George — that owns an extra first-round choice.
When he interviewed with WHL teams, the 14-year-old said, two questions figured prominently, highlighting the ongoing recruiting war being waged between major-junior hockey and U.S. colleges: “Would you play here if we drafted you? Are you interested in playing in the WHL?”
Brennan, a 6-3, 180-pounder who likes to fashion his game after Washington Capitals goaltender Braden Holtby, gave WHL teams the answers they wanted to hear.
“It just feels like it’s the best route for me, like how I play,” Brennan said, relishing the idea of a workload a 72-game regular season could provide. “My personality fits that. I’m very calm. If I’m going to play that many games, if you have a bad game you have to shake it off and come back for the next game.”
Purdie is a big fan of Brennan’s mental preparation.
“Tyler was outstanding for us this year,” Purdie said. “If you look at numbers alone, he was tops in our league. Again, he’s another guy who knows what he wants to do. He wants to be a hockey player and so he works hard on his game. When there’s an opportunity to get better, he’s taken advantage of that.”
The Brandon Wheat Kings are selecting 15th overall in Thursday’s first round.
mike.sawatzky@freepress.mb.caTwitter: @sawa14