FlamesNation prospect wrap-up: Ryan Lomberg

The Flames have quietly amassed a collection of talent through their development camp invites. Spencer Foo, Josh Healey, Glenn Gawdin, and Garnet Hathaway were all alumni of the Flames’ summer camp who have turned into pros.

Ryan Lomberg is also one of those camp graduates hoping to breakthrough to the NHL. Despite being 5’9″, Lomberg has established himself as a fearless warrior who also doesn’t mind chipping in a few goals here and there. Does he have a role on the Flames next season?

Lomberg’s path to the NHL is maybe one of the most unique. After being dismissed from the University of Maine for an altercation, his career appeared to be over before it began. However, the scrappy winger found his way to the Adirondack Thunder of the ECHL, and eventually worked his way to the Stockton Heat later in the season. He stuck around in Stockton for his second pro year, earning a big league contract from the Flames late in the year.

Lomberg was a jack of all trades for the Heat, playing up and down the lineup at both centre and wing. He played on special teams (PK more so than PP) and was generally just a reliable player for Stockton. Not the go-to guy per se, but generally trustworthy in every situation. As injuries piled up and players kept disappearing to the NHL, his role gradually expanded.

The real highlight of his season was his brief seven game appearance in the NHL. Filling in on the fourth line for injured players, Lomberg raised some hell, mostly by dropping the gloves with guys much bigger than him. He also recorded his first NHL point on a nifty little saucer pass to Curtis Lazar against the Rangers. Unfortunately, he finished with the worst CF% on the Flames, a dismal 40% in just under 44 minutes of 5v5 ice time.

Lomberg began the season slow and heated up towards the end, which is both concerning and not. On the concerning side, it’s kind of bad that Lomberg was underperforming for the majority of the year. On the other hand, he did eventually pick the pace up and finish above his 2016-17 self. His progression plateaus around the time he got called up to the NHL, so one can wonder how he would’ve done had his progress not been interrupted.

Looking at his points, he’s generally a primary source of offence. He found a lot of success on the PK, picking up three shorthanded goals this season.

Lomberg has seen steady growth since he cracked the pros. Still youngish at 23, perhaps there’s a bit more waiting to be seen. If he can build on his strong 2017-18 year, there’s a chance he can be more of an NHL regular.

But his NHL showing is likely what his ceiling is. He’s probably going to be another Hathaway at the NHL level: acceptable in limited minutes, but still a replaceable player. Lomberg can play a depth role for the Flames of the future, but it’s hard to see him as a long term piece, or even a regular 82-game starter. His scoring numbers are pedestrian at the AHL level and don’t indicate a guy who will stick around the NHL. He might be fun to watch, but he’s likely not going to be an option over the course of an entire season.

He’ll likely be fighting for a depth spot out of camp, but is far behind many of the other Stockton wingers. If he’s a serviceable recall option, that’s pretty good for the Flames.

Jon Gillies | Andrew Mangiapane | Brett Pollock | Emile Poirier | Austin Carroll | Morgan Klimchuk | Hunter Shinkaruk | Spencer Foo | Rasmus Andersson | Tyler Wotherspoon | Oliver Kylington | Josh Healey & Adam Ollas Mattsson | Mitchell Mattson | Hunter Smith | Mason McDonald | Tyler Parsons | Juuso Valimaki | Nick Schneider | Adam Ruzicka | Matthew Phillips | D’Artagnan Joly | Glenn Gawdin | Zach Fischer | Dillon Dube | Filip Sveningsson | Eetu Tuulola | Adam Fox | Linus Lindstrom | Pavel Karnaukhov & Rushan Rafikov