DETROIT — Amadeus gave an encore.

A year after the Red Wings’ 2022 fourth-round pick stole the show at his first development camp three-on-three scrimmage, Amadeus Lombardi was once again among the top standouts at the 2023 edition, playing on the winning Team Osaer and showing off his impressive combination of tools all morning at the Red Wings’ practice arena.

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Lombardi actually wasn’t on the scoresheet quite as much this time as he was last summer — though he did still have a pair of goals throughout the tournament — but he showed off sublime skill and speed, made power moves as well as finesse plays, and also displayed his smarts and competitiveness, leaving another strong impression.

“He’s drinking Red Bull before the first game at like 8:30,” Detroit director of player development Dan Cleary said afterward. “I’m like, ‘Amadeus …’ He’s competitive. He likes to do well. You (could) see as the games went along, he got his legs, got more confident. He’s super pumped up for a good summer of training.”

For years, observers have noted that if the Red Wings rebuild is going to truly succeed, Detroit needs to really hit on a couple picks beyond its early first-rounders — landing a surprise talent or two later in the draft.

And while it’s too soon to say whether Lombardi will be that, he continues to give every reason to believe he can. He was a 100-point player in the OHL for Flint last season, and is expected to be in Grand Rapids next season at age 20.

Amadeus Lombardi is always fun to watch #LGRW

— IcehockeyGifs (@IcehockeyG) July 5, 2023

There are times when I wonder if he dekes a bit too much — although the dekes are often impressive — but the all-around picture is a player with grit to spare. There was one moment, off a takeaway, when a defender tried to stick-check him on the ensuing rush, and Lombardi appeared to just take the opponent’s stick and then drop it to the ice. When you add that element and instinct in with the obvious skill and smarts, it makes for a really fun player to watch.

He has plenty of work ahead of him, including obviously getting stronger. But the multi-faceted display at this three-on-three event was the latest window into one of the more exciting prospects the Red Wings have.

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Some other thoughts coming out of development camp:

1. Speaking of mid-round success stories, Carter Mazur seems to take steps forward every time I see him. A 2021 third-round pick, Mazur has done nothing but trend up since he was drafted, and he looked a cut above the rest of the field, to me, for much of this week.

His skating, already a positive attribute, seems to have taken another step, and he just looks like a pro out there — flying around the ice, using his very good defensive stick to create turnovers, and displaying an impressive shot (though he was limited to a couple crossbars at the three-on-three tournament). And, while the scrimmages were low-contact, his competitiveness is clear any time he’s on the ice.

At this stage, with where the Red Wings roster sits, I’d be surprised if any true rookie forward were to make Detroit’s opening-night lineup. But if pressed for a pick to make that kind of push, my answer would be Mazur. He just has so many valuable elements to his game, and the arrow just continues to point up.

“I love Maze,” Cleary said. “I thought he looked strong out there as well. He’s a guy that you want on your team. He’s driven, competitive, strong. … His frame just needs to fill out a little bit. When it does, I think he’s going to be an impactful player.”

Adding that mass is of course a top priority, and part of the reason the safe money is on him starting in Grand Rapids. But there’s a ton to like, and it’s coming together pretty fast.

2. The other young would-be-rookie who will be interesting to watch around the Red Wings roster bubble is Marco Kasper, who scored the first goal of the day Wednesday on a nice shot following a Mazur crossbar at the other end. He had a good showing, and continues to look like an excellent young center prospect.

A little Marco snipe. 🤌#DRWDC

— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) July 5, 2023

I especially loved this moment, captured by the Red Wings social team, in which Kasper and Sebastian Cossa did a shootout challenge, and even after Cossa got the best of him early, Kasper called his shot by saying “next two (are) mine” — and delivering. That’s exactly how I’ve come to understand Kasper’s mentality, and it’s a great one to have.

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There were times, I thought, you could tell he’d been sidelined for part of the summer by his recovery from injury. But it’s a significant credit to Kasper that he still participated in every part of the camp, including the tournament.

“He does too much,” Cleary said. “He’s wanting more and more and more. I’m like, ‘Kasper, you might have to bring it back a little bit.'”

Wherever Kasper is to begin the season, there’s little doubt he’s going to put the work in the rest of the summer to be ready for it.

3. Unsurprisingly, there were several members of the Champion Team Osaer — for which Cleary was an assistant coach — who I thought had great days.

Defenseman Shai Buium really showed off his skill and offensive instincts, at one point activating into the play and then using his hands and edges to get a great chance which he finished. He’s got a big junior year coming up at Denver, and will need to continue to work at his defending, but I was impressed by what he showed especially in the offensive zone in three-on-three.

Brennan Ali was a seventh-round pick last summer, but he was in on all kinds of plays Wednesday, finishing off a two-on-zero from Buium, making a finesse play on the rush for another goal, and making some heads-up passes too — including assisting on the game-tying and game-winning goals in the championship. He found the backdoor plenty, and showed the kind of work rate that will endear him to his coach next year at Notre Dame.

Brady Cleveland, a 2023 second-rounder, was pretty smooth out there on the blue line, which was important because his usual hard-hitting game probably wasn’t going to be particularly welcome at an internal tournament. That he found a way to make a positive impact even without it is a good early indicator. Seventh-rounder Emmitt Finnie flashed some impressive skating as well for the champions.

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And that’s before we get to No. 17 pick Axel Sandin Pellikka, who was also on the championship team and looked every bit the heady playmaker the Red Wings drafted to run their future power play.

They won’t rush him to the league — Cleary flatly said “no” when asked if he could see Sandin Pellikka being “fast-tracked” to the NHL in the next two years — but he’s clearly an impressive prospect.

“He’s already in good shape, but he’s got to get stronger, got to get a little more quicker,” Cleary said. “But he’s got the brain. Certainly got the brain. And he’s got the tools, got a nice set of hands, he’s got good patience. Just work on certain areas of his game, defending’s going to be an important thing for him, work on his shot — lots of time for that.”

4. Meanwhile Detroit’s No. 9 pick last week, center Nate Danielson, showed many of the attributes that made him such a priority target for the Red Wings.

His skating is the bedrock of his game, but Danielson showed he could use both skill moves and power moves to get to the scoring areas. His lone three-on-three goal came in the slot via a nice setup from Theodor Niederbach, and he also tallied in the shootout. He was noticeable all morning and looks like a truly complete player.

5. A few more names that stood out: NCAA forwards Dylan James and Red Savage were both involved in several plays throughout the day, with James tallying two goals and an empty-netter and Savage scoring two goals of his own. Savage is headed for Michigan State next season as a junior, which is going to be a big year for him career-wise, while James is headed into his sophomore season at North Dakota. Both are breakout candidates.

I also found myself noticing the skating of 2023 picks Kevin Bicker and Larry Keenan throughout the week, and in the championship game of the three-on-three tournament, Keenan cashed in by scoring the opening goal. Coming from the prep circuit, the 6-foot-3 Keenan could have easily been overwhelmed by the level of play, but I thought he fit right in, which is promising for Detroit.

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Among the goalies, they’re obviously at a disadvantage in such a free-flowing game state, but top prospects Sebastian Cossa and Trey Augustine both had great moments, including Augustine shutting down a two-on-zero with great post-to-post movement.

6. After the tournament, the Red Wings announced the promotion of Kris Draper to assistant general manager, though he will still continue all of his duties as director of amateur scouting.

A promotion for Kris Draper, who anyone will tell you still grinds as much as anybody in the sport

— Max Bultman (@m_bultman) July 5, 2023

General manager Steve Yzerman called Draper into the office one day after the World U18 Championship to give him the news, though Draper wasn’t exactly sure of the purpose.

“I was never a big fan of being called down to the office, OK?” Draper joked. “I saw the principal way too much in elementary school, so I wasn’t sure how the office trip was going to go.”

Draper will still be running the draft for Detroit, but now will also be involved in some of the additional front-office business such as sitting in on free agency and the negotiation of contracts — especially entry-level deals. That hints toward a potential future in which Draper could one day be a GM, and he acknowledged Wednesday that one day he “love to do” so.

But certainly, for right now, the promotion does not change his biggest responsibility in running the draft, nor the pride he takes in working for the organization he’s called home for more than 30 years.

“It’s about being a Detroit Red Wing, it’s about getting back to winning,” Draper said. “I want the players that are in this dressing room to go through what I went through as a player. It’s something that I’ve never forgotten. Once the season ended and we went into the playoffs, it was just different. It was different around here. Detroit Red Wing fans are absolutely incredible, but then it goes next level come playoff time, and I want that group in that dressing room to go through what we were able to go through.

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“And then they’re going to understand exactly what playoff hockey means in Detroit and in Hockeytown.”

(Photo of Amadeus Lombardi: Courtesy of Detroit Red Wings)