Daniel Lambert (born January 12, 1970) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

former professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice h ...

player who played 29 games in the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

(NHL) for the

Quebec Nordiques The Quebec Nordiques (french: Nordiques de Québec, pronounced in Quebec French, in Canadian English; translated "Quebec City Northmen" or "Northerners") were a professional ice hockey team based in Quebec City. The Nordiques played in the W ...

. He is currently assistant coach of the

Nashville Predators The Nashville Predators (commonly referred to as the Preds) are a professional ice hockey team based in Nashville, Tennessee. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference, and ha ...

of the

Early career

Lambert grew up in the community of St. Malo, in southeastern

Manitoba , image_map = Manitoba in Canada 2.svg , map_alt = Map showing Manitoba's location in the centre of Southern Canada , Label_map = yes , coordinates = , capital = Winn ...

, and played his minor hockey in St. Malo, Steinbach, and Ste. Anne. He played one season of high school hockey in

Warroad, Minnesota Warroad is a city in Roseau County, Minnesota, United States, at the southwest corner of Lake of the Woods, south of Canada. The population was 1,781 at the 2010 census. Warroad had its own newspaper before it was incorporated in 1901. Minne ...

, before joining the Swift Current Broncos of the

Western Hockey League The Western Hockey League (WHL) is a major junior ice hockey league based in Western Canada and the Northwestern United States. The WHL is one of three leagues that constitutes the Canadian Hockey League (CHL) as the highest level of junior h ...

as a 16-year-old in 1986. Midway into his first season with the Broncos, the team bus was involved in a fatal crash that claimed the lives of four Broncos players (Lambert was not on the bus). Lambert recalls playing through the grief that season and making the playoffs as his proudest hockey memory. Two seasons later, he scored an incredible 102 points in just 57 regular season games. The Broncos went on to win the

Memorial Cup The Memorial Cup () is the national championship of the Canadian Hockey League, a consortium of three major junior ice hockey leagues operating in Canada and parts of the United States. It is a four-team round-robin tournament played between t ...

that season; Lambert was named the Most Valuable Player of the tournament. His 244 career assists stands as a franchise record.

Professional career

Lambert was drafted 106th overall by the

in the 1989 NHL Entry Draft. From 1990 to 1992, Lambert split his time between the

Fort Wayne Komets The Fort Wayne Komets are a minor league ice hockey team in the ECHL. They play their home games at the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum in Fort Wayne, Indiana. This team was previously a member of the Central Hockey League, the original Inte ...

of the International Hockey League,

Halifax Citadels The Halifax Citadels were a professional ice hockey team based in Halifax, Nova Scotia. They played in the American Hockey League between 1988 and 1993. They were created by the relocation of the Fredericton Express and filled a void left by the ...

of the

American Hockey League The American Hockey League (AHL) is a professional ice hockey league based in the United States and Canada that serves as the primary developmental league for the National Hockey League (NHL). Since the 2010–11 season, every team in the le ...

, and Nordiques. He played a total of 29 games for the Nordiques, scoring 15 points. In June 1992, Lambert was traded to the

Winnipeg Jets The Winnipeg Jets are a professional ice hockey team based in Winnipeg. The team competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference, and is owned by True North Sports & Entertainment, p ...

and spent the entire 1992-93 season with the

Moncton Hawks The Moncton Hawks were a professional ice hockey team based in Moncton, New Brunswick. They played in the American Hockey League between 1987 and 1994, operating as a minor league affiliate of the Winnipeg Jets. Home games were played at the ...

, their AHL affiliate. Lambert did not play a game in the NHL that season and decided to leave to play in

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

after the season ended. He played only 13 games there before returning to North American to play for the Komets in 1993-94. In 1994, Lambert joined the

San Diego Gulls The San Diego Gulls are a professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League (AHL) that began play in the 2015–16 season. Based in San Diego, California, and affiliated with the National Hockey League's Anaheim Ducks, the Gulls play th ...

of the IHL. The team played one season in San Diego before moving to

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

for one season, and finally settled in

Long Beach, California Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California. Incorporate ...

to become the

Long Beach Ice Dogs The Long Beach Ice Dogs were an American professional ice hockey team based in Long Beach, California at the Long Beach Sports Arena. They played until the end of the 2006–07 ECHL season. History The Ice Dogs trace their origins to the San Di ...

. During his five seasons with franchise, Lambert was one of the IHL's premier defenceman, scoring 308 points in 353 games. He was named an all-star four times and received the

Governor's Trophy The Governor's Trophy was awarded annually by the International Hockey League to the most outstanding defenseman Defence or defense (in American English) in ice hockey is a player position that is primarily responsible for preventing the opp ...

as the league's top defenceman in 1998. He also led all defencemen in scoring twice. Lambert signed a contract with the

Krefeld Pinguine The Krefeld Pinguine (Krefeld Penguins) are an ice hockey team in the DEL2. Their home ice is in Krefeld, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany at the König Palast. Founded first in 1936 by Willi Münstermann, the pro team became a limited liabil ...

of the Deutsche Eishockey Liga in 1999, helping the Sharks win the

Spengler Cup The Spengler Cup is an annual invitational ice hockey tournament held in Davos, Switzerland. First held in 1923, the Spengler Cup is often cited as the oldest invitational ice hockey tournament in the world. The event is hosted by the Swiss tea ...

that season. After one season in Cologne, he played three with the

, one with the Hamburg Freezers and five with the

Hannover Scorpions The Hannover Scorpions are a professional ice hockey team, which plays in the Oberliga, Germany's third tier ice hockey league. They previously played in the Deutsche Eishockey Liga from 1996 to 2013. History Founded in 1975 as ESC Wedemark, the ...

. Lambert helped lead Krefeld to a DEL championship in 2003. Lambert retired from professional hockey in 2009.

International competition

Lambert had the opportunity to play for Canada on a number of occasions in international competition, most notably at the 1989 World Junior Championships in Anchorage, Alaska. In 2005, Lambert was named as Team Canada's captain for the

Deutschland Cup The Deutschland Cup is an in-season international ice hockey tournament hosted by the German Ice Hockey Federation which has been contested in most years since 1987. Early years (1987–1997) In 1987, the German Ice Hockey Federation created the ...

Coaching career

After retiring as a player in 2009, Lambert joined the

Kelowna Rockets The Kelowna Rockets are a major junior ice hockey team based in Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada. The Rockets play in the Western Hockey League (WHL), out of the Canadian Hockey League (CHL). They play their home games at Prospera Place. The R ...

organization, first as an assistant coach and then as the head coach. As head coach, he led the Rockets to a runner-up finish at the 2015 Memorial Cup. He also served as one of

Canada's Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by total ...

three head coaches for the 2014 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge. Lambert was hired as an assistant coach by the

Buffalo Sabres The Buffalo Sabres are a professional ice hockey team based in Buffalo, New York. The Sabres compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference. The team was established in 1970, along w ...

in July 2015. On May 16, 2016, in a reorganization within the Sabres coaching staff, Lambert was assigned head coaching duties of the

Rochester Americans The Rochester Americans (colloquially known as the Amerks) are a professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League; the team is an owned and operated affiliate of the Buffalo Sabres. The team plays its home games in Rochester, New York, ...

. Lambert was fired as Amerks head coach at the end of the 2016-17 season but was then hired to coach the Spokane Chiefs of the

. After two seasons as head coach of the Spokane Chiefs, Lambert left the organization in June 2019 to become an assistant coach with the

Personal

Lambert and his wife, Melanie, have three daughters.

Awards

* WHL East First All-Star Team – 1989 & 1990

References

External links

*
Profile at Swift Current Broncos WebsiteProfile at Kelowna Rockets website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lambert, Dan 1970 births Buffalo Sabres coaches Canadian ice hockey defencemen Fort Wayne Komets players Franco-Manitoban people Halifax Citadels players Hamburg Freezers players Hannover Scorpions players HIFK (ice hockey) players Kelowna Rockets coaches Kölner Haie players Krefeld Pinguine players Living people Long Beach Ice Dogs (IHL) players Los Angeles Ice Dogs players Moncton Hawks players Nashville Predators coaches People from Saint Boniface, Winnipeg Quebec Nordiques draft picks Quebec Nordiques players Rochester Americans coaches San Diego Gulls (IHL) players Spokane Chiefs coaches Ice hockey people from Winnipeg Swift Current Broncos players Canadian expatriate ice hockey players in Finland Canadian expatriate ice hockey players in Germany Canadian ice hockey coaches