How acquired: Selected with No. 30 pick in 2022 NHL Draft
2024-25 season: Winnipeg (NHL): 5 GP, 0-1-1; Manitoba (AHL): 61 GP, 7-28-35
Lambert is expected to make the jump to the NHL full time this season after playing the past two seasons in the American Hockey League. The 21-year-old center is a fast, talented offensive player who will continue to work on his defensive game.
“His strength is going to be his speed and his ability to push people back,” Jets director of player development Jimmy Roy said. “It’s not quite [Nikolaj] Ehlers speed, but it’s close and that ability to make plays off the rush and use his speed, I think this past year, he understood how to get more pucks to the net, get inside defensemen.”
Lambert (6-foot-1, 173 pounds) got a taste of the NHL last season, and the Jets hope he can help fill the void left by the departure of Ehlers to the Carolina Hurricanes in free agency.
“His biggest thing to make that jump is getting stronger, physically getting stronger, from his legs to his upper body,” Roy said. “I think he’s done that this summer.”
Projected NHL arrival: This season