New Jersey Devils: What Can Be Expected From Eddie Lack?

The New Jersey Devils effectively turned Kyle Quincey into Eddie Lack last night.  Ray Shero initially turned Quincy into Dalton Prout at a time when the Devils already had 10 draft picks.  That move made sense in the moment.  Turning an older defenseman into a 26 year old defenseman was a smart move. However, Prout never panned out in New Jersey.

GM Ray Shero then turned Dalton Prout into a potential backup goaltender in Eddie Lack.  First, this raises the issue of if trading Scott Wedgewood was worth it.  Wedgewood is a 25 year old goalie who had shown tons of promise and was on a very team friendly deal with a cap hit of 650k. He still has RFA time left.  He’s established himself as a solid NHL goalie  and you have to wonder if moving him for a 4^th round pick was a mistake.

All stats from Corsica Hockey.

Unable to turn back the clock, Shero acquired Lack.  Lack’s best year of his career was in Vancouver under current Devils goalie coach Rollie Melanson.  In four years (we won’t count his 4 NHL games this year), Lack has posted respectable NHL numbers each year except for 2015-16 in Carolina.  A 5v5 SV% of anything 92% or better is respectable and any GSAA or dSV% above zero is also respectable.

Ironically, the shot types Lack faced those two years didn’t drastically change.  As you can see from these heatmaps from Hockey Viz, the defensive play in front of Lack was poor both years.

Although he’s immediately been sent to Binghamton, one has to wonder if he’ll get a shot sometime soon in New Jersey.  It’s likely the Devils want to give him time to adjust and possibly get some work in with Melanson before joining the big club.

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The acquisition of Lack brings up the question of how much Coach John Hynes trusts backup Keith Kinkaid.  Kinkaid posted respectable numbers last year, and started the year off all right. Since then, he has seen his play decline. In fact, he’s sat through eight straight Cory Schneider starts, including two back to backs.  This simply could be Coach Hynes riding one of the hottest goalies in the NHL but it could also be a partially due to the coaching staff not being able to trust Kinkaid.

Kinkaid’s 5v5 SV% of 89.96, dSV% of -1.76, and GSAA of -4.21 are all extremely poor numbers.  Lack provides insurance if those numbers continue.  This could be another Dalton Prout or the Devils could have found Cory Schneider’s new backup.  Only time will tell.