Next up in our series of “Should the Vancouver Canucks trade for this player on the trade market?” articles comes a name that is not exactly household.

Brad Lambert is a 21-year-old former first-round pick who has played just 10 NHL games to this point. And now, the word is that he’s seeking a trade out of Winnipeg and has been given permission for his agent to start looking around for a preferred destination.

It’s Lambert’s general lack of experience – and playing time – that is at the root of his trade request. The Jets, for whatever reason, have not seemed to prioritize giving Lambert minutes, especially within this current season. Lambert has spent much of 2025-26 caught between call-ups, demotions, and healthy scratches. Thus far, he’s only played four NHL games this year – with just 36:06 of ice-time – to go along with just three AHL games.

The trade request, then, makes plenty of sense. This guy just wants to play.

It also makes sense why plenty of other teams, potentially including the Canucks, might be interested in accommodating that request. Lambert remains an intriguing package of size and skill.

In fact, the best overall description of Lambert and his story is probably ‘intriguing.’ You don’t typically get a lot of prospects out of Finland named ‘Brad,’ but Lambert is the son of former AHLer Ross Lambert, who moved overseas following the end of his North American career. Lambert is also the nephew of long-time NHLer and current Seattle Kraken head coach Lane Lambert.

Lambert played the majority of his developmental hockey in Finland leading up to the 2022 Entry Draft. For a couple of years prior, he was talked about as a potential top pick. But by the time draft day arrived, Lambert slipped all the way down to 30^th overall due to a number of perceived shortcomings both on and off the ice.

Still, it’s not hard to see why some scouts were and remain excited about Lambert’s upside. He’s a highly-skilled forward with decent size and 6’1” and far-better-than-decent skating speed. Lambert is said to be one of those players who can both skate at top speed and maintain control of the puck while doing it, which is always a deadly combination.

Lambert was scouted and drafted as a centre – and a right-shooting centre, to boot. That has value in this league, and especially to a team currently short on centres, like the Canucks. It’s not difficult to see why, given the news of Lambert wanting out, GM Patrik Allvin and Co. might be kicking the tires.

But we’re not so sure they’ll be happy with the results of that kick.

Lambert has spent the majority of his time in North America playing the wing, not centre. Now, part of this is undoubtedly the centre depth in Winnipeg, which has made it difficult for him to get any minutes up the middle. But here in his fourth post-draft season, it’s still tough to say whether Lambert is much of a centre at all, especially at this level.

The Canucks could certainly use another centre, even a middling one. But the last thing they need is another middling winger.

Now, Lambert is still young enough and has enough potential that he may not end up so middling. But a team would have to be willing to make a bit of a gamble on him realizing that potential. And that is becoming less and less likely with each passing year.

See, it is true that Lambert is currently suffering from a lack of playtime and opportunity. But that’s not the same as saying that he always has. Lambert has received a number of call-ups, and in every season before this one, he’s received lots of AHL minutes.

The thing is, it’s hard to argue that Lambert has done enough to earn more opportunities than he’s been given. Lambert has only achieved one goal and two assists in those 10 NHL games. And while he was quite productive for a teenage AHLer in 2023-24 with the Manitoba Moose – 55 points in 64 games – that production has slipped in every season since. In 2024-25, he dropped down to 35 points in 61 games, and this year he’s pointless in three AHL games.

In other words, Lambert isn’t exactly beating the door down.

Yes, it’s true that Lambert is still young enough that his draft potential hasn’t run dry yet. But it’s also true that he’s shown significant developmental problems since then and is generally trending downward. Depending on the acquisition cost, Lambert may still be a bet worth making. But ‘depending on the cost’ is probably the stumbling block here.

The Jets have no real reason to rush to trade Lambert. It was his trade request, not theirs. He remains on his entry-level contract for this and the next season, and the Jets could then retain his RFA rights if they so choose. There is an obvious risk of Lambert going back overseas at some point, and maybe some impetus for the Jets to sell him before then, but nothing that would make them trade him for pennies on the dollar.

So, what might he cost?

We can probably drop the price down to somewhere south of a first-round pick. Lambert himself was drafted at the tail-end of the first round in 2022, and he hasn’t exactly added to his value since then, aside from the standout AHL rookie campaign. Winnipeg can ask for a first all they want, but any first-round pick is probably better spent on a new, incoming prospect than one already on his way to washing out.

But we’re not sure how much further that price will drop from there. It seems all but certain that Winnipeg will attempt to cash Lambert out for at least a second-rounder or an equivalent prospect. There is such a gap in both real and perceived value between a second and a third that can be illustrated here. To trade a former first-round pick for a second? That’s probably acceptable, given the circumstances. For a third? That’s suddenly grounds for disappointment.

Given Lambert’s draft profile, his size, and especially that puck-carrying ability, we suspect at least one of the other 31 NHL teams will meet that price.

But it probably shouldn’t be the Vancouver Canucks, for a multitude of reasons. Starting with the fact that the Canucks are not exactly flush with future-based assets right now, and cannot really afford to spend what they have frivolously.

We can continue with the fact that the Canucks currently hold the fifth-worst record in the NHL. Yes, they still have their 2026 second-round pick, but if they were to maintain this rank in the standings, that pick would be slated at 37^th overall, making it a high second. That’s just seven spots later than Lambert himself was drafted three years ago, and seems like too much to pay for this particular player. A third round pick might be closer in reasonable value, but then that’s an offer that probably gets beat if it doesn’t include a prospect sweetener.

We can end on a positive note, and it’s this: the Canucks have actually made pretty good use of their own draft picks of late. Since Allvin and Co. have taken over, the Canucks have used their second and third round picks on players like Elias Pettersson, Hunter Brzustewicz, Sawyer Mynio, Melvin Fernstrom, Alexei Medvedev, and Kieren Dervin. All of the above still look like fairly legitimate prospects, and most of them have only increased in value post-draft.

That tells us the Canucks are almost definitely better off keeping their own picks rather than shipping them out for a questionable gamble on Lambert.

Is there some logic to the Canucks wanting a more NHL-ready young player rather than a pick? Sure, perhaps. But then there are some serious questions about whether or not Lambert is truly NHL-ready.

There is enough there to justify a tire kick. But not a particularly hard one. This is a situation that is probably worth it for some other team far more than it is for the Vancouver Canucks.