Lombardi trusts offseason work will pay off in 2024-25

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. -- After spending his 2023-24 season with the American Hockey League’s Grand Rapids Griffins, and with all the work he put in this summer, Amadeus Lombardi feels stronger and more confident as he prepares for the upcoming campaign.

“Last year was a huge adjustment, just with the speed and physicality,” Lombardi said after Saturday’s 2024 NHL Prospect Games opener. “You have so much less time and space (in the AHL), but I adapted to that. Coming back here, it’s obviously good for my confidence. I feel stronger out there, being able to make plays. It’s just nice to round out my game before camp.”

Last season, Lombardi ranked third among Griffins rookies with 26 points (five goals, 21 assists) in 70 games. The 21-year-old forward prospect also played in eight Calder Cup Playoff contests, scoring one goal.

“He’s starting to want more now,” Detroit Red Wings Assistant Director of Player Development Dan Cleary said about Lombardi. “He’s going to get some preseason games. He got a taste in his first year and he’s gotten stronger. He’s got the new haircut, a little bulked up.”

Reflecting on his first full professional hockey campaign, Lombardi said he quickly learned how demanding the daily grind of the AHL is.

“You’re playing 72 games,” Lombardi said. “They are hard, very defensive. You don’t have a lot of time and space. A big adjustment for me was being smart with the puck at the right time.”

For Lombardi, being part of a postseason run with Grand Rapids was exciting.

“Going through the playoffs with some of the older guys and picking their brains was huge for my development,” Lombardi said. “Near the end of the year, every game I was just trying to get better and better. I think we did as a team, and I think I did as a player. It’s a shame we didn’t go farther because we had a really good team, but hopefully this year we can build off that.”

Selected by the Red Wings in the fourth round (114th overall) of the 2022 NHL Entry Draft, Lombardi said he places a high level of trust in his development process.

“For the past couple summers, it’s been a similar process: getting stronger,” Lombardi said. “Obviously I’m not the biggest guy, so putting on strength. In the past, it’s been lifting weights and working out. I obviously did that a ton this summer, but I worked on technical skating, which I found has helped me a ton.”

Lombardi also did vision training this summer, which he said helped his hand-eye coordination.

“Essentially, (vision training) is a lot of different quick-reaction skills,” Lombardi said. “You’re doing things with goggles, it’s flashing, and you have to catch things. One example would be that I’d be stickhandling, a light would flash and I’d have to stickhandle to the light while reading a chart at the same time. All cognitive stuff.”

Griffins head coach Dan Watson said he sees how dedicated the young forward is to improve as a player.

“As a coach, you want to see guys have good offseasons,” Watson said. “See what they worked on and what they did in the summertime. He got a little bit bigger and stronger, but he didn’t lose any speed.”

Lombardi stresses there’s still a lot of work to be done, but he’s more than ready for what lies ahead on his development path.

“It was a great year for development,” Lombardi said about his past season. “I’m really excited for this year.”