Dakota Lamb - Scouting Report

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Dakota Lamb Scouting Report

 

S73 | Centre | Shoots: Left | Born: Welland, ON, CAN | 6'1 | 185lbs. | #80

 

S72 VHLM Drafted 49th Overall      |     S73 VHL Drafted 10th Overall 

 

SKILL SET

Strengths:

Shooting - Lamb has a dangerous wristshot, which he is not afraid to use. He considers himself as a shoot-first type of player, looking for a rebound rather than just a straight pass. He is still working on his slapshot, but I would not consider it a negative. He has been training intensively to try and become a powerplay quarterback. He is known to shoot from anywhere, and if he sees nothing developing in the offensive zone, he will not hesitate to just shoot it at the net and go for a goal or a rebound.

Finishing - Lamb prides himself in his ability to finish plays. Whether it be a rebound, writshot, breakaway, no matter what, he believes in his own ability to just simply put the puck in the net. You can count on him in shootouts, penalty shots, whenever you need him to score a goal for you - he can do it. His ability to do this has been praised by scouts all over VHL, and is one of the main reasons he went 10th overall.

Work Ethic - Lamb has an incredible work ethic. During the off season, he does not skip a beat while training, having multiple personal trainers and coaches help him improve. During the season, he is always 1st to show up at the rink, eager to get the new day started. He loves the game of hockey, and his love of it constantly creates the urge to be getting better. If you need any proof, take a look at his TPE growth, he hasn't stopped growing one bit since he gained attention of VHL/M scouts.

 

200-Foot Play - His pride and joy. 200-foot play. Of course, everyone dreams about scoring the Continental Cup winning goal as a kid, and when playing in their driveway, but Lamb gets that feeling when scoring of course, but also when he's shutting down opponents. He loves frustrating the other team, when they can't get anything going. As a kid, he always looked up to Patrice Bergeron, and that's exactly the player that he has developed into. His 200-foot play includes a great face-off percentage, incredible hockey IQ, great and safe zone exits, just the whole package when it comes to controlling a game of hockey.

Areas of Improvement:

Passing - These are not cons. Lamb does not believe in that word. Anything and everything can be improved with some amount of practice and work. As for passing, Lamb is a competent passer, he has just historically been a shoot-first type of player. He does think that when he makes the jump to the VHL, he will be passing a lot more, which is why he is working on it. He is perfecting the art of one touch passes for those beautiful tic-tac-toe goals, and he really wants to get good at putting the puck in his teammates "roundhouses" so that they can fire off fast and hard one-timers.

Strength - This may be the biggest knack scouts had on Lamb going into the draft. While he does stand at an average 6'1", and a little underweight at 185lbs, Lamb has yet to fully utilize his entire body in his style of play. Especially as a centreman, strength is very much needed stick-checking, winning faceoffs, and just cutting opponents out of the play. He started improving this at the end of last VHLM season, and expects to continue developing this when he makes the jump to the bigs.

 

NHL Comparable: Patrice Bergeron

VHL Comparable: Julian Borwinn

 

Prospect Grade:  B+
 

 

 

Edited August 8, 2020 by dlamb