Fans of the Winnipeg Jets will have a front row seat to a significant piece of the team's future, as 2022 first round draft pick Brad Lambert takes to the ice for the first time on Saturday in the 2023 Memorial Cup.
Lambert and his Seattle Thunderbirds teammates will begin the 2023 running of the annual best-on-best-on-best-on-host year-end Canadian Hockey League tournament in Kamloops, BC at 5:00 PM central time from the Sandman Centre.
"I'm feeling really excited," Lambert said to media from Kamloops. "It's obviously an unbelievable opportunity. It's a once in a lifetime opportunity, so we are just trying to make the most of it and enjoy the moment."
The Jets chose the 19-year-old Finnish forward with the 30th overall pick last summer, ending a slight slide down the rankings that saw Lambert end up on a team desperate for some youthful offence.
He impressed at training camp and preseason, but was ultimately sent to the Manitoba Moose, where he began the season with two goals and three points in 14 American League games.
He was then assigned to Seattle, rather than Finland, where he completed the remainder of the 2022-23 season in style with the Western Conference champion Thunderbirds.
"It was a bit of a disappointment at the time," Lambert said when asked about being moved to Seattle. "But now it's just trying to make the most of it with this opportunity. We have an unbelievable group of guys. Winning the WHL championship was unbelievable, but now to get this is experience is great. So I'm happy."
Although able to return to Finland to finish the season, Lambert says that Winnipeg made the right decision to send him out west to Junior.
"I think it was nice to get the opportunity here in Seattle," he reflected. "Just trying to make the best of it here. It's been really nice to play big minutes."
'Big minutes' would actually be an understatement, as the 6-foot, 185-pound speedster put up 17 goals and 38 points in 26 regular season contests for the Thunderbirds, before adding another six goals and 26 points in 17 postseason games.
He reiterated that it was Winnipeg's choice to send him to Seattle, which he calls the right move.
"It was the Jets' decision, so at the start of the year when I went there I said I'd play wherever they thought was best," Lambert revealed. "So this is what they thought was best. I try to play my game wherever I am, the best I can, and make the most of my opportunities."
Seattle - which went 16-3 through the WHL postseason, which included a 4-1 WHL championship series victory over the No. 1 ranked Winnipeg ICE - is actually looked upon as the favourite heading into the tournament. But Lambert says he hasn't been following the betting line.
"No, I didn't hear any of the predictions," he smiled. "But I think there is four good teams here, so we are going to have to play our best games to win. That's our goal."
Seattle will take on the OHL's Peterborough Petes on Saturday evening, before facing the QMJHL's Quebec Remparts on Monday night. The team will finish the three-game round robin portion with a test against the host Kamloops Blazers on Monday.
"We need to play our game and get right into it," Lambert said. "Obviously, in the starts of the games. That's what I think is the biggest thing."
The tournament actually began on Friday, with Quebec facing Kamloops, but Seattle's three-game schedule only kicks off on Saturday. The semifinals will be played next week Thursday and Friday, while the championship will be held on Sunday night. All games of the tournament will be broadcast live on TSN.