The New Jersey Devils have agreed to trade Dalton Prout to the Calgary Flames in exchange for goaltender Eddie Lack. The move was announced on Saturday afternoon.
.@CortexBusiness Transaction Alert: The #Flames have acquired defenceman Dalton Prout from the New Jersey Devils in exchange for goaltender Eddie Lack. pic.twitter.com/OKYobbZabG
— Calgary Flames (@NHLFlames) December 30, 2017
The Flames and Devils completed the deal on Saturday which sends defenseman Dalton Prout to Calgary, and golatender Eddie Lack to New Jersey.
Eddie Lack
In the 29-year-old Eddie Lack, the Devils get a goaltender who was traded to Calgary in June from the Carolina Hurricanes. He is a huge goalie and he managed a 1-2 record in four games with the Flames posting an .813 save percentage, and a 5.29 goals against average. He was sent down to the Stockton Heat of the AHL in late November and posted a 2-2-1 record in five games. He put up a .916 save percentage, and a 2.57 goals against average.
Lack seemed to fall out of favour with the Flames when Mike Smith was injured. David Rittich came in and was solid in Smith’s absence. Calgary decided to keep Rittich whose contract is only $725,000. They waived Lack and sent him down while trying to move him. They do that here.
The Devils will be Lack’s fourth NHL team in his five-year NHL career. He played 82 career games over two seasons with the Vancouver Canucks before heading to Carolina where he played 53 games over 2 seasons.
Lack has shown some positive signs that he can be a solid backup goaltender in the NHL. He posted goals against average under 3.00 during his first four seasons in the league. He also had a save percentage of over .910 in his first two seasons in Vancouver.
Lack will report to the Devils AHL affiliate in Binghamton.
Dalton Prout
Dalton Prout, 27, is a big, defensive defenseman who was drafted in the 6th round (154th overall) in 2010 by the Columbus Blue Jackets. He spent five and a half seasons with the Jackets organization before being traded to the Devils in March of 2017. Prout has posted 13 penalty minutes in four games with the Devils this season without tallying a point. The La Salle, Ontario native has six goals and 30 assists in 242 career NHL games and is a career -14. At the AHL level Prout has 27 points in 124 games.
On the advanced statistics side, when Prout is on the ice, his teams PDO is 98.8. He has started his shifts in the defensive zone over 57% of the time through his career. His Corsi with the Devils in the two seasons was just over 50, while it was 44 when he was with the Blue Jackets.
Prout will report to the Flames AHL affiliate in Stockton.
Both Players Sent to AHL
With both players being sent to the minors, don’t expect too much effect from this trade right away. However, on the Devils side, they add a goalie who gives them a little bit of insurance in the event that either Keith Kinkaid or Cory Schneider get injured for an extended period of time. With Prout heading to the Flames organization, he adds some depth to an already deep defence core. Don’t expect Prout to be up with the big club for a while.
In the end, the Flames move a contract worth $2.75 million, and the Devils move a defenceman that didn’t really fit what they wanted to do.
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