The Carolina Hurricanes have locked down their new goalie to a two-year contract extension, but what does it mean going forward for the club?
The Hurricanes have announced that they have signed goalie Eddie Lack to a two-year, $5.5 million contract extension. The deal will kick in after the 2015-2016 season.
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The deal will pay the Swedish goalie $2.5 million in 2016-2017 and $3 million in 2017-2018 according to CarolinaHurricanes.com. He will carry an AAV of $2.75 million over the next two seasons.
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He is on the final year of his current deal, which will pay him $1.3 million this year and $1.15 million against the cap.
The Carolina Hurricanes acquired Lack from the Vancouver Canucks on June 27, 2015 at the 2015 NHL Draft.
Canes general manager and executive vice president Ron Francis released the following quote with the team’s official press release:
"“Eddie has been a great addition to our locker room,” said Francis. “We feel that we have a very solid tandem in net for this season and are excited that Eddie will remain a part of that picture beyond this year.”"
Eddie Lack, 27, spent the first two years of his NHL career with the Vancouver Canucks. In that time, he played in 82 regular season games, posting a record of 34-30-9 with a .917 save percentage and 2.43 goals against average.
Since the start of Lack’s career, he has been known as a great locker room guy, and just in a few months with the Canes, he has seemed to develop a great relationship with his teammates, the younger groups of guys, specifically. I’d have to imagine that played a massive role in his extension.
Carolina Hurricanes
Lack played very solid hockey in the preseason, putting up a record of 2-0-0. He has yet to play in a regular season game with the Hurricanes, but he has, evidently, already proved to the front office and coaching staff that he will be a big part of this team’s future in net.
With this sparkly new deal for Eddie Lack will come many questions surrounding Cam Ward. The long-time backstop for the Canes is entering the final year of his $6.3 million AAV deal that he signed back in 2010.
Trade rumors have continued to surround Ward over the past season, and this new deal for Lack will keep them around until he either re-signs with the club or is moved.
It is worth noting that Francis said that he thinks the goalie “tandem” will be good this season. He could just be giving lip service here, but from those words, it appears that he expects this tandem to play out at least a big part of the season.
Cam Ward had a miserable first start in preseason against the Penguins almost two weeks ago, but since then he has won both of his starts and has allowed just 3 goals in 2 games.
While Ward’s future with the team remains unclear, what is certain is that Eddie Lack is expected to be at least some part of this club’s future, and he will be kept around for two more years following the 2015-2016 season.
Next: Hurricanes Cut Haydn Fleury, 4 Others from Training Camp Roster