Article: Carson Lambos Still Has Upside Despite Rookie Year Struggles

[Aaron Heckmann]

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[Citizen Strife]

Faber hitting big and Chisholm being a solid wire pickup really slowed down the "need" for younger D to come in and make waves.  Lambos has some time to prove he's at least a viable NHL defenseman so people like Middleton and others can be slotted down where they should be.

It would be nice to always have a Faber ready to come in and light the league on fire.  That is too unrealistic.  Even being a new Brodin would've a great addition.

Edited August 28 by Citizen Strife

[Up North Guy]

Let's hope this optimistic article is accurate. Lambos feels to me like a player who is very hard to evaluate. The talent seems to be there, but the results are shaky. Is it effort? Is it poor coaching? Is it ineffective training? Whatever it is, the clock is ticking, even though defensemen can take time to mature.

[WildRam]

As noted, he was on one of the worst AHL teams last season, and if he continues to "get better and better," he has two years to get NHL ready before we are calling his number to play in St Paul. 

[Imyourhuckleberry]

48 minutes ago, WildRam said:

As noted, he was on one of the worst AHL teams last season, and if he continues to "get better and better," he has two years to get NHL ready before we are calling his number to play in St Paul. 

That's partly due to all of the injury callups to the NHL, no doubt.  Even the AHL team had quite a few guys missing time due to injury, and the team had only 1 goalie who's a viable NHL prospect. Wallstedt had some off nights, but when he wasn't in goal, the goalie save percentage averaged below .880.

Upgrading the goalies behind Wallstedt, as they did for the upcoming season, could really help the Iowa Wild.

[Dean]

It’s funny how the hype disappears once the kids need to prove something. Reminds me of Judd saying Rossi was the most nhl ready kid in that draft. Not true at all . Lundell. I’m not criticizing Rossi but rather the people that over hype them . Zeev is the new lambos. Didn’t we just draft our d core years ago? Lambos , O’rouke , hunt . Everyone was saying we drafted our d core . We were set up. That’s not true. If Billy didn’t luck out with Faber our d core would still be in shambles due to that weak draft class of d men. So now we’re on to over hyping Zeev and Reilly to make ourselves feel better that this team is going nowhere. Kinda like we did with Billy’s previous prospects. 
   I’ve got nothing against our prospects. I hope some can make the nhl and earn careers. However I’m realistic about it. Most that make it will only be replacing mediocre not pushing the team forward. IMO the Russian will be the one to make a real impact on this team due to fact he’s already playing with men.  Zeev looks good on paper with all the situations and top talent he’s played against . So im hopeful he’s going to be an impact guy on this franchise. However him falling in draft and some of the criticisms of his game have me on the fence about his true ceiling. Reilly needs to play against men before I get excited about him. I don’t believe what our scouts say or do I believe what the athletic says about prospects. They are never right ! 

[Pewterschmidt]

2 hours ago, Up North Guy said:

Let's hope this optimistic article is accurate. Lambos feels to me like a player who is very hard to evaluate. The talent seems to be there, but the results are shaky. Is it effort? Is it poor coaching? Is it ineffective training? Whatever it is, the clock is ticking, even though defensemen can take time to mature.

Case could be made that if Lambos had developed as originally forecasted Wild could have flipped Midsy for assets instead of needing to resign him for 12 more years

[Imyourhuckleberry]

The Athletic(Corey Pronman) released the prospect ranking for the Wild this morning. They place the Wild 10th in the NHL, same as last year, despite Boldy graduating from their list.

Quote

Player eligibility is determined by age. A player is eligible if he is 22 years old or younger as of Sept. 15, 2024. This encompasses almost every prospect selected between the 2020 and 2024 NHL drafts. This is done to include a team’s top prospects without aggressively graduating players who have a lot of prime development years ahead of them, even if they are already in the NHL. This does have the effect of at times including star NHL players while leaving off players who are still in the minors and have a chance to make the league. There is no perfect way to create player eligibility for a prospect ranking.

He lists Buium #1 among all Wild prospects, followed by:

Faber, Rossi, Wallstedt, Yurov, Bankier, Ohgren, and Lambos at #8.

He lists Stramel ahead of Ryder Ritchie to round out the top 10, with Khusnutdinov and Kumpulainen just after them.

I disagree with Bankier ahead of Ohgren or Stramel ahead of any of these guys, but can kind of understand most of the choices.

He really loves Zeev Buium, projecting NHL all-star and #1 D potential, noting, "Buium was one of the top-scoring defensemen in college this past season and one of the best draft-eligible defensemen I’ve ever seen at that level."

Also notable that Daemon Hunt is outside of his top 13(#13 was Kiviharju), so even though Hunt was closer to NHL ready last year, it seems most still have Lambos surpassing him.

[FredJohnson]

Brodin has been a defensive staple for Minnesota since 2012

😳 it does not seem like a dozen years!

[Burnt Toast]

1 hour ago, Dean said:

Reminds me of Judd saying Rossi was the most nhl ready kid in that draft

Medical complications set Rossi back 18 months minimum. I agree with you that until the prospects hit, KK, Boldy, Faber, Rossi their development is unpredictable and fluid. I’d say the future looks sunny but there’s definitely some cloud cover no doubt. 

[Citizen Strife]

After Rossi scored 20 goals, you'd think any dissent about him was gone...but Dean posted it, so no surprise.

Edited August 28 by Citizen Strife

[FredJohnson]

1 hour ago, Citizen Strife said:

but Dean posted it, so no surprise.

😂😂😂

[mnfaninnc]

19 hours ago, Burnt Toast said:

I’d say the future looks sunny but there’s definitely some cloud cover no doubt. 

This is precisely what we need, the prospects weather report! Nice job BT!

[mnfaninnc]

23 hours ago, Up North Guy said:

The talent seems to be there, but the results are shaky. Is it effort? Is it poor coaching? Is it ineffective training? Whatever it is, the clock is ticking, even though defensemen can take time to mature.

These are great questions. My take on it was that Lambos arrived thinking he could take the transition well. What he didn't realize was the speed upgrade and strength upgrade. My hope is that he took that into consideration this summer and worked with Andy Ness and hit the gym for about 10 lbs. of strength. He'll need this to be "dominant." 

Now McLean said he didn't realize he was such a good skater. This was in his draft bio too, but you can always use a little help in this area. If Ness can help him with a couple of things, he'll be way better. I do believe Lambos' effort was there. But, please note that there was/is still no respectful defensive coach on this staff. Dwyer was that guy (I think) but I remember him as a forward. To use BT's idea, the defensive coaching looks like more than just a passing thunderstorm coming.

Ineffective training? I assume this means gym work. Please also note that nobody on this roster appears to be interested in the necessary body build to get to the N and not come back down. So, to me, I have to look at the strength training staff and ask what the hell they are doing? I am not impressed with these guys one bit. How is this build up message not being heard? When you get your chance, you need to be ready! 

I can tell you this, if Lambos wants to be taken seriously in training camp this year, coming in ripped between 205-210 will get the whole FO's attention. You may not make it out of camp in the N, but you are on the short list of callups. Chisholm is the guy you're chasing and he was already a little smaller than you.

[raithis]

On 8/29/2024 at 9:53 AM, mnfaninnc said:

My take on it was that Lambos arrived thinking he could take the transition well. What he didn't realize was the speed upgrade and strength upgrade. My hope is that he took that into consideration this summer and worked with Andy Ness and hit the gym for about 10 lbs. of strength. He'll need this to be "dominant." 

I also kind of think this.  I feel like he had to adjust more than he realized, and it may even be in his head a bit to shake his confidence.  It will be interesting to see if he seems to be in the same space next season or if he makes some strides in a positive direction. 

Long term I think he will be a NHL caliber defense man, but I'm not sure how long it takes him to turn that corner.  I'd like to see him able to be a steady defense man by the time Bogosian's contract is up.

[raithis]

On 8/28/2024 at 1:54 PM, Citizen Strife said:

After Rossi scored 20 goals, you'd think any dissent about him was gone...but Dean posted it, so no surprise.

No kidding.  I can appreciate realistic.  I can even appreciate a realistic approach that is well-mired in a bit of pessimism given that the Wild haven't made it out of the first round in a very long time, but the guy is almost constant negativity with nothing being good enough.  At least give credit where credit is due...but so much of that is completely ignored so that everything is tilted one way.