As long as the Toronto Maple Leafs are struggling and the trade markets are limited, a case will need to be made for and against every interesting player that hits the trade market. Brad Lambert is one of those players. Lambert was a late first-round pick by the Winnipeg Jets in 2022, after sliding a bit in the rankings due to a tough 2021-22 season.
Lambert had a strong AHL rookie campaign, but it seems like frustration set in last year when that initial success didn’t lead to a spot on the Jets. His numbers declined and now in his third year in North America and not being an NHL regular, Lambert is pleading for a change of scenery and depending on the price tag, the Leafs should consider being that landing spot. Just ten games into his NHL career, Lambert has a goal and two assists to his name, not an unexpected total for someone who has only just dipped his toes into the NHL.
The drop of in production in his second AHL season comes with an important caveat as well. Brad Lambert was still the second highest point producer on the Manitoba Moose. His 35 points put him just behind Mason Shaw’s 37 points, and while you’d hope that Brad Lambert could have prevent some of the decline, the Moose had the second worst record in the AHL last season and the lowest goals for total. Asking a 20-year-old to fix that might have been asking too much.
For the Leafs getting younger is a big positive and for a club that has been short on draft picks and dealt a number of their prospects, having someone with higher end potential like Lambert seems like a plus. He’s a strong skater and a capable puck carrier, both areas the Leafs could stand to improve in. Lambert might end up being another Nick Robertson-type situation for the Maple Leafs, but that is meant as a positive thing. Much like Robertson, if Lambert is given opportunities to play his game, there is the potential for him to be an affordable asset for the club to comes in at a fairly friendly price point.
And like Robertson, and Easton Cowan, a bit of a grace period for Lambert to acclimate himself to the NHL needs to be considered and that might be the biggest deterrent for the Maple Leafs who are very much trying to sell a win now mentality and have a Coach and GM that might feel their job security at risk if they don’t attempt to win now. The motivation to be shortsighted might prevent the Leafs from doing the right thing.
At the same time, a mystery box player might be the best player that comes available. Lambert, like other youthful targets like Othmann and Chinakhov has potential going for them and upside that comes through development. When you already know you aren’t going to get much more than underwhelming results from other potential bottom six forwards in the trade market, there should be some appeal in looking at a young player who might deliver similar results now and push for a top six role in twelve months.
There is also some appeal in dealing with Winnipeg, a team that is far more likely to consider roster players as return for youth than other clubs around the league. They are still very much trying to be competitive now and have the geographic disadvantage of not always being able to attract NHL talent via free agency.
The Leafs have an opportunity to explore a youth movement while not losing much of a step when it comes to their current competitiveness, and while it will ultimately come down to what the Winnipeg Jets are looking for as a return here, this seems like something that Brad “in on everything” Treliving needs to commit some extra time to exploring.
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