By Tony Abbott -
Among the first-round picks in recent Minnesota Wild history, defenseman Carson Lambos might be the most anonymous.
Matt Boldy and Marco Rossi have both made star turns in the NHL. Jesper Wallstedt and Liam Öhgren have had tastes of the NHL. Danila Yurov has put up numbers overseas in the KHL. Zeev Buium is a National Champion and playing in the World Junior Championships. David Jiricek is the shiny new toy. Even Charlie Stramel is getting some buzz.
Then there's Lambos, upstaged by six picks by Wallstedt in the 2021 Draft and a bit overlooked since then. The Winnipeg native has been solid, if not spectacular, ever since. Lambos posted 10 goals and 47 points in 51 games in his Draft+1 campaign, then captained the Winnipeg Ice for 61 games, scoring 12 goals and 48 points. As expected, he took some lumps in his first AHL season, but four goals and 14 points in 69 games on a young, inexperienced blueline wasn't a major red flag.
But in a prospect pool that seems to add hyped-up, impact prospects every year, solid will only get you lost in the shuffle, which is what's seemed to happen for Lambos. According to Elite Prospects' rankings, he's fallen from eighth in 2022, to ninth in 2023, to 10th in September.
While his sophomore season hasn't resulted in a leap in production (two goals, five points in 27 games), he's picked up buzz with solid play in other areas. Minnesota has been impressed enough that they've recalled him -- not Jiricek after trading him -- to help replace Jared Spurgeon, despite Jiricek matching Jared Spurgeon's right shot and Lambos being a left-shot defenseman.
It's an interesting decision, to say the least, so let's try diving a touch deeper into Lambos' game and see what's gotten him to his NHL debut.
The Wild drafted Lambos for his two-way upside. The 6-foot-1 blueliner was quick, skilled, and rugged. But whenever you get an offensive defenseman in junior or college, you'll hear someone say the same refrain about any spectacular play they create, Wait 'til they get to the pros, that won't work there. Lambos could regularly make those plays in junior, taking advantage of the extra space that comes with playing at those levels.
Sometimes, the player gets the last laugh. Tell Quinn Hughes or Cale Makar that their flash won't work in the NHL. That works if you're skilled enough. However, you'll probably have to change your game if you don't have those elite tools. If you can't, you might be on the Calen Addison track.
Lambos was in the category of players who had to change their game, and he did. Check out this scouting report from EP's David St-Louis on November 13, 2020:
"A bunch of offensive flashes this game. He can fake passes and turn them into dangles or
spins. He is very comfortable at the offensive blue-line, manipulating high defensive wingers."
Four years later, we have this from the Iowa Wild's September 2 match against the Manitoba Moose. St-Louis again:
"I didn't see offense in Carson Lambos's game, but he was effective. He took hits to make plays on breakouts, stuck to his check, pinned opponents to the board, blocked shots, and showed an above-average motor. Skating seems better than when I last watched him.... Nothing exciting, but this is a version of him I didn't expect to see. Less exciting but more projectable."
Being able to make these kinds of adjustments after only one pro season highlights that Lambos is coachable. He's endeared himself to Iowa head coach Brett McLean so much that he's held a top pairing spot ever since the Wild traded Daemon Hunt to land Jiricek. “He’s made a really nice step here this year now he is getting tougher assignments in games, playing against some of the other team’s top players," McLean explained to NHL.com earlier this week. "He has responded well.”
He's also earned the respect of his teammates. “He is probably the hardest worker I know," raved Iowa forward Mikey Milne. "He’s working out every single day and treating his body the way a pro is supposed to. He’s so dedicated to what he does, and you can see why he was picked so high."
Maybe you don't exactly dream about your favorite team drafting a safe, reliable defenseman in the first round, but every team also needs those players. You may not like it, but there's a reason why someone like Jon Merrill sticks around the league for 600-plus games. The new Lambos also perfectly fits the kind of hockey John Hynes has the Wild playing: Low-event and defense-first.
Again, you may not like it, but you can't argue with the results. Minnesota has missed four games (and counting) from superstar Kirill Kaprizov. Throw in 14 games of Joel Eriksson Ek, 13 of Mats Zuccarello, 10 of Jonas Brodin, 9 (and counting) of Jake Middleton, and now, five (and counting) of Spurgeon. That's 55 man games lost from the 10 most important members of their roster in 38 games.
Still, Minnesota is second in the Central Division with a 23-11-4 record.
Asking anyone to replace Spurgeon is basically impossible. Still, if Lambos can show what he's learned in Des Moines and translate it to the NHL, he'll show that while he may not have the flash or sexiness of the Wild's most-hyped first-rounders, he still has a future in the State of Hockey.
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