2022 NHL Draft Diary: Brad Lambert

Brad Lambert of Pelicans in Liiga, the top professional men’s league in Finland, will file a draft diary for NHL.com this season leading up to the 2022 NHL Draft on July 7-8. The 18-year-old forward, No. 5 in NHL Central Scouting’s final ranking of International skaters, scored 10 points (four goals, six assists) while averaging 14:15 of ice time in 49 games this season. He had no points and averaged 9:35 of ice time in three playoff games. Lambert scored five points (one goal, four assists) in two games for Finland at the 2022 IIHF World Junior Championship before the tournament was postponed on Dec. 29. He signed with Pelicans on Jan. 17 after 24 games with JYP this season. 

Hello hockey fans.

I’m coming to you from the NHL Scouting Combine in Buffalo!

It was a great process, something you look forward to, especially having the chance to talk to 26 NHL teams and getting to know those people. While you’re doing the testing, you get to meet some of the other guys in this class that you haven’t met before, so it’s fun and I enjoyed every moment of it.

I don’t know anyone who likes doing the Wingate bike test or the VO2 max bike test so, in a way, I’m glad it’s over but the challenge of doing it was fun. I’m a competitive guy. I think the VO2 was harder because it was so much longer. You kind of had to struggle on the bike for about four minutes, whereas, with the Wingate, you had the first 10 seconds where you felt pretty good, but then the last 20 seconds you were fighting it. Overall, I think you had to fight it a lot longer on the VO2.

The Wingate was 30 seconds total, but the first 10 you feel pretty good and then you kind of hit a wall.

I’m definitely trying to look at where I stack up on the board with the other prospects while doing the testing. A lot of this stuff, especially the strength stuff, upper body, is something I need to improve on so I’m working on that this summer. Whether good or bad at it, I’m competitive and I’ll try to do it better than other…