BRADY LAMB
Minnesota Duluth
Jr. | D | Calgary, Alberta 

Lamb scored 11 goals for the Bulldogs last season, second among WCHA defensemen in that category.

Key Statistics: After notching a pair of points in a 21-game rookie season, Lamb was an offensive lion on the Bulldogs blue line last winter. Playing in all 40 games, he reached career highs in goals (11) and assists (13), finishing second (behind Wisconsin’s Brendan Smith) in goals by a WCHA defenseman.

What He Does: Blessed with decent size (6-1, 215 pounds), Lamb looks like the prototypical lane-clogging defensive defenseman. But from the moment he arrived in the Twin Ports from the Alberta Junior Hockey League, he was pegged as a guy who could move the puck and score from a post on the blue line. Bulldogs coach Scott Sandelin, in scouting Lamb, had seen him make the first pass to start plays, liked the way he handled the defensive end of the ice, and saw a player who thrived on the physical part of the game.

The Bigger Picture: Perhaps the biggest reason for Minnesota Duluth’s top-half finish in the WCHA last season was the league’s most effective power play. That’s also where Lamb made his biggest impact for the Bulldogs, playing the shooter’s role on Sandelin’s second power-play unit on most nights and using his heavy shot to reach double digits in goals. While most of the key power play cogs return to open Duluth’s sparkling new Amsoil Arena this season, Sandelin feels that Lamb might be in position to move up to the top unit. After spending parts of the last two summers at NHL development camps (with the Bruins in 2009 and the Penguins last month) Lamb returned to Duluth in great shape, with added muscle that will surely be put to good use by the Bulldogs this season.

Bulldogs coach Scott Sandelin on Lamb: “Brady always had good offensive abilities coming from juniors, so we knew going in that he would be a power play guy and would need to contribute offensively. He’s going to be a big minute guy this season.”