Winnipeg Jets’ prospects Brad Lambert and Chaz Lucius both began last season with the Manitoba Moose before ultimately being returned to their junior teams to get more playing time and further their development.
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This season, the two first-rounders (Lambert, 30th overall in 2022 and Lucius, 18th overall in 2021) are with the Moose full time as the next step in their development to impactful NHLers. While the Jets have high hopes for both, their 2023-24 AHL seasons have been wildly different to this point.
Lambert Excelling on So-So Moose Club
The Moose themselves are a middling club 20 games into the season, holding a 10-10-0-0 record. They have been blown out more than a few times already, own a minus-14 goal differential, and their defense and goaltending have been on “struggle street” overall.
Lambert, however, is not struggling in the top-line centre and power play mainstay role he’s been given by head coach Mark Morrison and his coaching staff. Lambert, who will turn 20 years old on Dec. 19, is second on the team in points, behind Nikita Chibrikov, with eight goals and nine assists for 17 points in 20 games.
That output represents leaps-and-bounds growth from last season when those hoping the Finnish product would immediately dominate the AHL with his game-breaking ability were disappointed. In 14 games last fall before the 2023 World Junior Championship, he struggled at times to adjust to the stiffer competition and North-American-sized ice, recording just two goals, one assist, and a minus-9 rating.
Lambert was sent to the Western Hockey League’s Seattle Thunderbirds after the World Juniors and he more than took what could have been perceived as a demotion in stride. He dominated the level, racking up 17 goals and 21 assists for 38 points in 26 games and six goals and 20 for 26 points in 17 playoff games. One key was Thunderbirds’ head coach Matt O’Dette moving Lambert back to his natural position of centre — which comes with more responsibilities than wing — and that’s where he’s stayed this season in his first full professional campaign.
“He’s a world-class skater with high offensive skill (but) it just wasn’t developing,” Jets player development co-ordinator Mike Keane explained in July at the team’s development camp.
“It just wasn’t out there, yet. It was kind of peeking (out) at times,” Keane explained. “He went to Seattle and established himself as an offensive player. Now we’ve seen that and it’s out there. He was playing with high-end players on a real good team system and he did well with it. That’s kind of what we were looking for.” (from ‘Lambert matured as player in WHL,’ Winnipeg Free Press, July 6, 2023.)
Lambert recently told the Jets’ Ground Control podcast he’s enjoying a more stable season in Winnipeg and while he’s hoping to keep playing well enough to get a call up, he acknowledged there’s more work ahead for both him and the team.
“Yeah, it’s been up and down. You know, we’ve had some tough losses as a team. Some great wins as a team,” he said. “We are working on that consistency, a more consistent game in and game out, play with the details and not be as inconsistent, so we get better results. But you know, it’s been good, and I hope we can get this thing back on track.”
Lucius Once Again Struggling to Stay Healthy
Chaz Lucius’ skills aren’t in question, as he possesses great speed and acceleration, a high hockey IQ, and two-way ability. However, his durability certainly is in question as for the third-straight season, he’s battling the injury bug that’s already cost him significant development time and tested his resilience.
Lucius has contributed when in the Moose lineup, recording two goals and seven assists for nine points in 12 games in a second-line centre role. Unfortunately, he’s also missed eight with two separate injuries: he suffered a concussion in October in a game against the Iowa Wild and more recently a lower-body injury that’s kept him out of the team’s past two games.
Lucius’ injury history is extensive for someone who is just 20 years old. Late last January, while playing with the Portland Winterhawks after winning bronze with the United States at the World Juniors, he suffered a shoulder injury that required surgery and ended his season. It was terrible timing as he was dominating with the WHL club, recording five goals and 10 assists for 15 points in just six games.
Last fall prior to the World Juniors, Lucius played 12 games with the Moose, recording two goals and three assists for five points. He also missed about three weeks due to shoulder troubles.
However, his injury woes go back much further: in 2019, he underwent a knee surgery that involved replacing the bone marrow with bone marrow from his back and the recovery required him to spend six weeks in a wheelchair and another six weeks in a heavy brace, “basically learning how to walk all over again.” (From ‘Jets prospect Chaz Lucius proving he can get through anything,’ Winnipeg Sun, Sept. 13, 2023.)
In 2020-21, after being drafted by the Jets, he sustained a hand injury and then had to have an ankle surgery which ended his first season with the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers after just 24 games. If you’re keeping track, that’s a knee surgery, ankle surgery, and shoulder surgery in back-to-back-to-back years.
However, while Lucius’ season has been more challenging than Lambert’s — and every time he’s out of the lineup there’s a “here-we-go-again” feeling — he’s by no means someone the organization has given up on.
Jets Not Rushing Either to NHL
The Jets can afford to be patient with the two first-rounders as they are a deeper team up front than in any other time in recent memory and are in “win-now” mode.
While both will continue to try to impress enough to force the organization’s hand and let them make their NHL debuts sooner than later, it appears the brass are content for now to allow them to play big minutes with the Moose. Whenever the Jets have needed an additional forward throughout the season, veteran Dominic Toninato has gotten the recall over either of the two youngsters.
