Amadeus Lombardi (DET) - 4th Rounder from 2022

[Pengwin7]

Just fell in love with this guy over the past 24 hours.
Had not spent an ounce of energy researching him previous to last week.
But think... I found a gem... so will post some thoughts.


Player came to my attention last week from watching Rookie Camp videos on twitter.
He was at Red Wings camp... I was intrigued at his intensity playing MarioKart with three other Red Wing prospects (Danielson, Kasper, and baby Draper).
He's at bottom left of the video:
https://twitter.com/DetroitRedWings/...20165735600128

(As some know, MarioKart has been a fun way for players to kill their off-time on team road trips).


A few days ago, there was a thread on people asking for ranking on Morgan Frost.
Frost is a player I fell in love with back in 2018/19... as he was identified in OHL Coaches Poll as a top two "smartest" and "best playmaker":
https://ontariohockeyleague.com/arti...a%20year%20ago.

I look and wait for those OHL articles EVERY YEAR now.
If you are in a prospects type of league, don't miss them. They are gold.
The coaches know what's going on within their divisions.


What's been super hard, recently, with COVID is that we had a whole OHL year canceled.
So - as always - there are gems here & there... but the OHL had a canceled season and it's hard to identify who those players were.
Some... are lucky enough to have Wyatt Johnston on roster. What a gem.
And to know that maybe he was coming - even with canceled year - is proof through what the OHL coaches saw.
In his OHL-point leading season, they had Wyatt near the top of SEVERAL categories.
https://ontariohockeyleague.com/arti...s-poll-winners


Anyways, I realized recently that I (somehow) hadn't looked up this year's article.
So I did.
Here it is:
https://ontariohockeyleague.com/arti...s-poll-winners

Amadeus Lombardi finished as "Smartest" player in Western Conference.
He also finished 2nd as "Best Playmaker" in Western Conference - behind fellow over-ager Ty Voit.
He also finished 2nd as "Best Stickhandler" in Western Conference - behind fellow over-ager Ty Voit.


[Now - for clarity - don't get me wrong. He IS an overager. And overagers often tear up their CHL leagues - and we shouldn't overreact. Nick Robertson did this and he's not exactly a lock for panning out as top6 NHLer]


But here's what I read on and liked about Lombardi:

1. He was drafted by the Wings. I'm not saying Yzerman is "the best" NHL GM... but he does make a point of drafting partially due to "character" of the player. He wants solid guys - respectful and smart. So we can start by checking those boxes off.

2. Lombardi was drafted by Flint in the 13th round (245 overall) of the 2019 OHL Priority Selection. If that hasn't sunk in... let it. He was a nobody. I'm not sure I've ever seen an Ontario kid drafted that late in the OHL draft rise up to be a 100+ pt OHL scorer... ever. (Maybe, I don't recall).

3. Then in the 2022 draft, he was selected 4th round by Yzerman. We don't have a lot to go on statistically. He played on a pretty bad Flint team - 2nd in scoring (59pts in 67gp) by an enormous amount to Brennan Othmann. The 2020-21 OHL season was full canceled, so there's nothing there.

4. Watch his summer interviews - he recalls that the team asked him to try to score more after his 18goal season. He sees himself more as a playmaker. The guy made the effort to try to shoot more... and scored 45 goals last year!

5. He's a June birthday. So that's a little "late" for draft-eligible kids... which is why he was an age 19 draft... who is drafting a small 18-year old without OHL stats?

6. Just... go watch the highlights. The kid is good. He's better than 4th round good.


The end point here is this:
OHL Coaches had him as a heavy favourite for "Smartest" player in the Western Division of the OHL.
And, historically, when I see a player listed in the "smartest" and one other offensive category (Playmaking, Shot, Stickhandling)... like Morgan Frost or Jordan Kyrou... they are usually going to pan out. And here - it's a 4th rounder... so he's probably available in your leagues.

[I did a search on the "Post Your Draft Results" - because I have not yet seen a Dobber forums article discussing him in depth... and saw one GM in a league take him at #94 overall. I just drafted him in the WHL at 74 overall.]


P7 Rare Recommendation.
I think this 4th rounder makes it to the NHL.
He looks like he definitely has the offensive skills and character and everything about him says "I'm a riser... I get better... I'm competitive."



Some Highlights:

[VintageVibe]

I like him a lot too for all the reasons you just listed, Peng.

Had my eye on him last season and was lucky enough to draft him a few weeks ago early in the 3rd round (my first pick of the draft - I would've drafted him in the 2nd round if I had a pick).

A lot needs to happen over the next 24 months but he could very well end up being Brayden Point 2.0 (high-end IQ, high-end work rate, versaltility, speed, agility, shot, etc.) for Stevie Y and DET in a couple seasons when there is another turnover of players (Perron, Fabbri, Sprong, etc.) for part two of the Yzerplan (Kasper, Danielson, Lombardi).

In the meantime I'm treating him as a low-cost diamond in the rough and hoping for a big season in the AHL.

[random-d]

Does he also play the wing? Because there's no way he supplants Larkin in the near future and there's competition in the pipeline down the middle.

[Pengwin7]

OMG. (shaking head)
No... no he's not going to supplant Dylan Larkin.
Or Kasper. Or Danielson.

If you are in a shallow league, rostering <200 forwards... then I would say you can definitely disregard this guy.
For those of us in leagues with say 300+ forwards (24 team x 12F+bench+farm), he's a guy with some potential/risk/reward.

[random-d]

OMG. (shaking head)

That's a curious reaction to an honest and legitimate question about a guy that you just wrote a small docu-series about. I presumed that if you'd spent that much time that there must be some reason to believe he has an in-road sometime with the next 2 years or so.

My humblest apologies.

[Pengwin7]

I presumed that if you'd spent that much time that there must be some reason to believe he has an in-road sometime with the next 2 years or so.

My humblest apologies.

The issue here is that you made an incorrect assumption that because I put a lot of effort into a thread... that the guy must be earth-shattering.
Your presume here... is your own issue.

People on the forums do this all the time... provide information, to be helpful, about a deep-dive prospect they like.
Amount of words typed does not equal the quality of the player.
It's just information from those of us that happen to like sharing what we've learned.

I accept your apology.

[random-d]

People on the forums do this all the time....

Lol, no they don't. The Dobber writers do. Let's not pretend this isn't exceptional in regards to how much information was contained in the post.

Don't get me wrong, I appreciate the enthusiasm and I respect your knowledge and dedication. But this doesn't happen "all the time".

[Pengwin7]

Sorry.
I apologize.
For future reference... I type a lot... my "quantity" does not equal "quality".
I'm quite a rambler at times.
I'm sorry if the length of my post confused you and made you think that Amadeus Lombardi was possibly a threat to Dylan Larkin.

To answer your original question - I think Lombardi will be able to play the wing in the NHL.

[stevegamer]

I have a major complaint with you, Peng. Nowhere in this somewhat gushing post did you once say that he rocked your expectations or anything remotely like that. And it was sitting there the whole time.

Seriously though, thanks. He might be a guy I look to grab as a FA when things open in a league, but he's not a guy I will spend waiver priority on. Trying to decide if I want to burn decent (top third) waiver position for 3 guys who went undrafted in a league.

[Axeman33]

I think we discussed this in a previous thread but I'm not sold on Yzerman and his amateur scouting staff hitting much out of the first round, at least that's what we've seen since he took over in Detroit in 2019.

In four years I'd drafting and developing, he's had one player not drafted in the 1st round play in a NHL game. Now I know, it takes time and he doesn't like rushing prospects but I'm surprised by that stat.

I hope your player works out but finding NHL players outside the first round is hard to do for most teams, not just Detroit.

[Pengwin7]

In four years I'd drafting and developing, he's had one player not drafted in the 1st round play in a NHL game. Now I know, it takes time and he doesn't like rushing prospects but I'm surprised by that stat.

I predict Yzerman's Red Wings will have a top 3 NHL defenseman group in 2026-on.
And it *could* all be homegrown talent.
D1 pairing Edvinsson2021(L)-Seider2019(R)
D2 pairing Wallinder2020(L)-Sandin Pellika2023(R)
D3 pairing Buium2021(L)-Tuomisto2019(R)
D7 Albert Johansson2019(L)

I think that'll be the strength of his team's drafting... and you definitely don't want to rush their NHL debuts.
Most of Detroit's 2nd & 3rd round picks with Yzerman have been depth defensemen (future 2nd, 3rd pairing)... Europeans... and I think, fairly, those guys should be delayed in their NHL promotions.

I will admit that it seems DET whiffed on their 2019 forward drafting (Mastrosimone - not signed & Grewe-bust)... as well - Cossa isn't looking too solid these days.
But that D-core, from what I read... is coming along GREAT.

[loppantorkel]

Lombardi looked good in the prospect tournament, as he also did last year. Should be interesting to see how he does in the AHL this year, and how Ty Voit does (don't think I've heard of him before, which wouldn't have surprised me if he wasn't Toronto drafted). One concern one might have about Lombardi is that he is another smallish player, more likely a 2nd or 3rd line winger if he makes the Red Wings, which currently has DeBrincat, Raymond, Berggren as other <6' wingers. Then there's Rasmussen, Elmer Söderblom and Cartur Mazur, aside from the two 1st round centers.

I'm keeping my eye on Lombardi, but he's probably stewing in the AHL the two upcoming seasons.

Does Lombardi have a good comparable? Brayden Point the extreme upside perhaps, but what's a more probable outcome?

[VintageVibe]

Lombardi looked good in the prospect tournament, as he also did last year. Should be interesting to see how he does in the AHL this year, and how Ty Voit does (don't think I've heard of him before, which wouldn't have surprised me if he wasn't Toronto drafted). One concern one might have about Lombardi is that he is another smallish player, more likely a 2nd or 3rd line winger if he makes the Red Wings, which currently has DeBrincat, Raymond, Berggren as other <6' wingers. Then there's Rasmussen, Elmer Söderblom and Cartur Mazur, aside from the two 1st round centers.

I'm keeping my eye on Lombardi, but he's probably stewing in the AHL the two upcoming seasons.

Does Lombardi have a good comparable? Brayden Point the extreme upside perhaps, but what's a more probable outcome?

100% - Brayden Point is the absolute optimistic upside comparable that I used earlier.

As for more grounded comparables, assuming he ends up finding his way into the NHL as a middle six winger, I'd say somewhere along the lines of a Mangiapane, Dvorak, and Labanc.

[Pengwin7]

Ontario Hockey League twitter account just put this video up:
(Glad I got my hands on the kid before they did!)

https://twitter.com/i/status/1683979189714661377

[lucafen4]

Lombardi looked good in the prospect tournament, as he also did last year. Should be interesting to see how he does in the AHL this year, and how Ty Voit does (don't think I've heard of him before, which wouldn't have surprised me if he wasn't Toronto drafted). One concern one might have about Lombardi is that he is another smallish player, more likely a 2nd or 3rd line winger if he makes the Red Wings, which currently has DeBrincat, Raymond, Berggren as other <6' wingers. Then there's Rasmussen, Elmer Söderblom and Cartur Mazur, aside from the two 1st round centers.

I'm keeping my eye on Lombardi, but he's probably stewing in the AHL the two upcoming seasons.

Does Lombardi have a good comparable? Brayden Point the extreme upside perhaps, but what's a more probable outcome?

Voit was seen as a 'steal' by the Leafs prior to OHL's 22/23 season.
He really impressed in development & rookie camp.
endless motor, speed hands, tenacity - a lot like Robertson, but a passer, not shooter.
another small player selected by Dubas.
although Dubas almost fully defaulted to his scouting staff to make picks
so really, Dubas deserves very little credit for anyone 2nd round and beyond.

I'm expecting a quick transition to the AHL for Voit with that style of game.
This is another guy that's available in a lot of pools and slipped due to the cancelled OHL season.
best kept secret in the leafs org.
Wouldn't surprise me if he shoots up their depth charts this year.