Flames weekly prospect update: weather report

He’s kind of a hodge podge of roles.  He’s a talented two-way player who is realistically on the second PK unit with Brandon Bollig behind only Mark Jankowski and Morgan Klimchuk.  He’s also an energy player as he is always going.  I’ve watched him for two years and haven’t seen him take a shift off yet.  He can also score too as he’s tied for 8^th on the team in scoring with 8 goals and 11 assists.  Plus, he’s fearless.  He’s the guy that has been the real “fighter” on our team.  I think at the AHL level, a guy like Bollig can pick and choose his spots and frankly, he doesn’t need to go with some rookie who wants to make a name for himself.  And with Austin Carroll not fighting as often as he did last year, Lomberg has stepped up to fill that role.  I think he relishes in taking on bigger opponents as the most memorable fight of his to me was when he went after 6’6” Jarred Tinordi in Tucson after he flattened Rasmus Andersson with a hit.  Lomberg has stepped to the plate for his teammates on a number of occasions.

I think what he’s best at though is playing that rat role that you absolutely hate to play against.  Think Theo Fleury in his hayday.  Think Brad Marchand now.  Opposing fans and players hate him, or love to hate him.  He loves it too.  He’s terrific at toeing that line and drawing penalties too.  So many players are described as an “energizer bunny” but this guy really is that.  He just keeps going and going no matter the situation or the scoresheet.  Flames fans will love him if they don’t already.

Toughness and physicality are strengths of his but his speed and energy are his strongest.  Game one this year, we’re playing San Jose near the end of the game tied up.  Puck sent up out of our zone too far for Lomberg to catch it but he keeps going.  Puck goes into San Jose end and their defenseman Tim Heed (who’s been excellent this year) goes after it.  When the pass misses, Lomberg is a couple steps inside his zone and I’d say Heed has a good 10 foot lead for the puck.  Lomberg turns on the jets and caught up to him a couple steps into the San Jose zone basically, lifted his stick and shoved the puck in for his first AHL goal which was the game winner.  That’s what this guy does.  He wants it more than just about everyone.  I know Flames fans like Garnet Hathaway for similar reasons.  This guy has those reasons too.

As far as improvements, he may need to hone picking his spots better.  I know he got into some penalty trouble on New Year’s Eve in Ontario that put Ontario on a few late power plays they converted on as they came back to beat us in OT, but I feel that comes with more experience.  The thing I’d like to see him do is improve his shooting as he’s got nearly everything you want in a player but I feel that he can be a more complete player if he works a little on his shooting and accuracy so when he uses his speed to create breakaway chances, he can go to a couple of different moves to put the puck in the net.  However, overall I’d say that Lomberg is already in year number two one of the most important players on the team.  This is a tremendous signing as this guy is in that same mold of a Hathaway where they just want it so bad and they work at it and improve each year.