Draft Profiles 2k21: Carson Lambos is a speedy, dependable blueliner that only needs to put his offensive toolset together

Analysis:

Carson Lambos is one of a few very lucky kids who likely didn’t need to find a billet family to remain in the WHL, as the Kootenay Ice moved into downtown Winnipeg two years ago, but the pandemic gave him the opportunity of a lifetime, when he had to make the biggest jump of his life by going all the way to Jyväskylä, Finland to continue his development as a member of JYP, as many WHLers had to go on excursion this year.

Lambos spent much of 2020 bouncing around the JYP system, as he was always needed in some capacity or other, and the first thing pretty much everybody noticed about him is his absurd speed. Lambos is a fast skater, able to get up to full speed near instantly, and use that speed to become a dangerous transition player. It also makes him a smart and sensible player on the backcheck, as he’s usually the first player back on dump-ins, and can pretty easily keep himself in front of oncoming puck carriers and move them directly to the outside. And when in the attacking zone, he’s shown that his shooting can be veeeery tricky, usually using that high mobility to force opposing backcheckers to move for him, and brother...that slapshot of his sings when he’s called to use it.

Of course, all that 200-foot game stuff is cool and everything, but critically the one aspect of Lambos’ game that he has to start getting down is offensive consistency. Because he has some maddening traits that seemingly hold him back in spite of his clear talent.

While it’s not exactly a defenseman’s job to lead the charge every shift, a player like Lambos whose as fast as he is doesn’t really need to be the guy making the first pass to get out of his own end when he can get it out of the zone himself with that footspeed, nor should he be as unselfish as he is in the offensive zone with a shot that potent. His defense is perfectly good for what it is, his speed and skating makes him a nightmare to try and shoot around, and he’s perfectly willing to play the body, but really the thing you end up taking from Lambos is that he could be so much more if he could just put the pieces of his individually strong traits in the opponent’s end together. Further, like any young gun, his time in JYP was marred with constant juggling of place in the organizational lineup, something that definitely might cause some concern if this prolific player suddenly skidded to a halt in terms of production like he did.

A lot of analyst types like Lambos a lot. His sheer speed and point-getting prowess, combined with a real nose for what gets a puck on net, has made him quite a few fans. A team looking to draft him will be putting their offensive coaching to the test to see if they can get more than just a fast break, but a potential back-end scoring threat out of this very promising player.

Personally, any player that can show this much high-end promise needs to be given a good hard look-see. It’s worth a look, right?

Rankings:

• 15th by EliteProspects’ Consolidated Rankings
• 30th by EliteProspects
• 22nd by FC Hockey
• 2nd by Neutral Zone Hockey
• 37th by McKeen’s Hockey
• 11th by NHL Central Scouting (NA Skaters)
• 18th by SportsNet
• 6th by RECRUIT SCOUTING
• 28th by DOBBERPROSPECTS
• 21st by DRAFT PROSPECTS HOCKEY
• 20th by SMAHT SCOUTING
• 3rd by THE PUCK AUTHORITY
• 15th by TSN/McKenzie