‘It didn’t seem like he was overwhelmed by the circumstances’: Wild’s Carson Lambos makes impressive NHL debut

In the Minnesota Wild(21-9-5) against the Columbus Blue Jackets (14-14-6), defenseman Carson Lambos made his NHL debut.

After 163 games in the American Hockey League (AHL) and 1,610 days after the Wild selected Lambos with the 26th overall pick in the 2021 NHL Draft, he finally made his NHL debut.

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And he looked great.

According to HockeyStatCards, Lambos led all Wild defensemen in the game in GameScore.

“A long journey and a lot of ups and downs along the way, not playing for a year, among other things too,” Lambos said after the match. “So it’s really exciting to be here and to have this opportunity.”

Lambos, 22, was awarded the title “Hero of the Game” after his debut. He made an impressive 17 turnovers, including a shot and a blocked shot that could have saved a goal later in the match.

With Jonas Brodin and Jake Middleton returning to Minnesota following their injuries, and Zach Bogosian waiting in the wings, it’s unclear how many more games Lambos will play in the NHL this year, if any, but he made it clear Thursday that he’s ready to become an NHL defenseman.

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“I thought it was a good first game for him,” Wild head coach John Hynes said. “I thought he had strong details in his game. He skated well. Strength-wise, he looked good. I thought he played a simple, reliable, good first game. The encouraging things are, his skating, he’s a pretty good-sized young kid, good strength on him and it didn’t look like he was overwhelmed by the circumstances. So that was good to see.”

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