Mark Lamb will perform his first official duty as general manager of the Prince George Cougars bright and early this morning when he decides on the Cougars' fifth-overall choice in the 2018 Canadian Hockey League import draft.
If Lamb nails it like he did the last time he was in this position, picking for the Swift Current Broncos, the Cougars could be about to land a game-changer.
Two years ago when he was with the Swift Current Broncos Lamb selected Finnish forward Aleksi Heponiemi 10th overall in the import draft. That came a year after Lamb added Russian import defenceman Artyom Minulin to the Broncos' herd.
Heponiemi was a star with the Broncos this past season with 28 goals and 90 assists for 118 points (third in the WHL scoring race), while Minulin racked up a solid 13-goal, 43-point season on the blueline as the Broncos went on to win their third WHL championship.
"When you get two impact Euros, look what it can do to your team and the possibility of getting a real good player is there when you pick fifth overall," said Lamb. "Everybody knows it is a crapshoot. You have to do your work and find the players and there's a lot that goes into it. The agents have a lot to do with it and you have to use your connections to find out what players are available and what players want to come. Hopefully we can snag the right one."
The fact the Cougars are picking so high among the 60 major junior teams in the CHL is a reflection of their last-place Western Conference finish. Only the Edmonton Oil Kings, who hold the second-overall pick, had a worse WHL record than the Cougars (24-38-5-5) in 2017-18. The Saint John Sea Dogs pick first overall while the Sudbury Wolves (third) and Shawinigan Cataractes (fourth) also pick ahead of the Cougars. The entire draft, which starts at 8 a.m. PT, will be completed online.
The Cougars have a second-round pick, 65th overall, but won't be using it. They've decided to keep as their second import Belarusian winger Vladislav Mikhalchuk, who had 14 goals and 33 points last season as an 18-year-old rookie.
Lamb says it's becoming increasingly difficult to convince quality players to leave their junior teams in Europe because those teams have stepped up efforts to try to keep them there. But the major junior leagues are still considered among the best breeding grounds for future NHL players, which bodes well for teams that draft early.
"They're keeping them on contract and there's transfer fees and they're trying to make it hard, but on the other hand the European players know it's easier paving going from junior to the NHL because it's so similar," said Lamb. "The rules are similar, they play a lot of games, there's a fair amount of travel and they get accustomed to the hardships of playing in the CHL and that gets you ready."
The 53-year-old native of Ponteix, Sask., grew up in Swift Current, where he played his minor hockey and he was there to watch the Broncos on their championship run this past spring. The Cougars announced June 19 they'd signed Lamb to a four-year contract as GM to replace Todd Harkins, who held the job for four seasons.
Lamb is well familiar with the import draft process, having served seven seasons as the Broncos head coach and general manager. He left Swift Current in the summer of 2016 to become head coach of the AHL's Tuscon Roadrunners.
While some CHL teams select players who have already been drafted by NHL teams, the Cougars will likely go for a younger player, knowing they're still a couple years away from peaking with what is a young team stacked with highly-touted prospects.
As a result of the trades Harkins made leading up to the deadline last season the Cougars had eight picks in the first five rounds in the bantam draft in April, including two first-rounders. They used their ninth overall pick to get Airdrie forward Craig Armstrong and selected Winnipeg goalie Tyler Brennan, using the 21st overall pick the Broncos gave up when they acquired defenceman Josh Anderson. Next year, the Cats will have six picks in the first five rounds and will have seven choices in the first five rounds in 2020. They own two first-round picks in each of the next two years.
"When you're picking fifth overall in the Euro draft and when you miss the playoffs it's a total rebuild so there's a lot of draft picks and lots of young players and we're going to try to build it slowly and patiently," said Lamb.
"I think Todd did a real good job of restocking the cupboards. You need assets because to put you over the top you have to make trades. You're not just going to grow your own team of 22 players through draft picks, that's just about impossible. You have to build assets and make the right moves to complement other players. The assets are there, the draft picks are there to really improve the team. We have a good team right now but to really build it to win a championship, that's the goal."
Drafted as a defenceman by the Calgary Flames in the fourth round in 1982, Lamb switched to forward after his first pro training camp and went on to play 17 seasons as a centre, from 1984-2000. He won the Stanley Cup in 1990 with the Edmonton Oilers and captured the Turner Cup as an International Hockey League champion with the Houston Aeros in 1998.
He began his coaching career in Edmonton in 2001 as an assistant with the Oilers, where he coached Cougars part-owner Eric Brewer, then served as an assistant for seven seasons with the Dallas Stars from 2002-09. Cougars current head coach Richard Matvichuk played defence for the Stars in Lamb's first two seasons with Dallas.
"I coached both of them," Lamb said. "It's always nice to know people when you're coming into an organization."
The contract of assistant coach Shawn Chambers has expired and he won't be returning for a third season with the Cougars, a decision made before Lamb was hired. That leaves Matvichuk and Steve O'Rourke behind the bench, with goalie coach Taylor Dakers joining the team this season from the Red Deer Rebels. Lamb brings a wealth of coaching experience in the NHL and AHL and will be on hand for his strategic advice but says he's looking forward to focusing mostly on his management duties.
"I found in Swift Current it sure was a lot of work. I was overseeing everything - the business, the hockey and the coaching and it was actually too much," he said. "I thought there were times when I should have spent more time with the players and had to go do something else and lots of times I didn't get to go scout the players I really wanted to see and spend time with my scouts.
"I'm there to support on the coaching side and I'll be a real good sounding board for them and will give them my ideas also."
Lamb and his wife Tanya will be on the move to Prince George on July 3. They have two grown daughters, Adrianna, 26, who lives in Calgary, and Regan, 20, who attends school in Regina. Their 18-year-old son, Hunter, will be playing in the Alberta Junior Hockey League this season as a forward for the Lloydminster Bobcats.
Lamb will get to see Hunter play a few times this season while on scouting trips, which he says will be a big component of his job with the Cougars.
"You've got to get out to see the players - to have a good team you have to have good players and you have to find them," he said. "It's all about trying to build a winner, that's what we're all in it for, and it's not easy.
"It's exciting and it's so gratifying. I was around Swift Current when they won and there were a lot of things I did that I know work and that's going to help me a lot in Prince George."
