About Last Season: Eddie Lack Performance Review and Grade

Eddie Lack: 2016-17 By the Numbers

• Age: 29
• NHL Seasons: 4
• Games Played: 20
• Record: 8-7-3, one shutout
• Goals-Against Average: 2.64
• Save Percentage: .902 overall, .914 even strength
• Contract Status: Completed first year of two-year, $5.5 million extension

About Last Season

Jamie Kellner

Canes Country’s player-by-player review and grades for the 2016-17 season.

• April 13: Sebastian Aho
• April 14: Klas Dahlbeck
• April 15: Patrick Brown
• April 17: Phil Di Giuseppe
• April 18: Justin Faulk
• April 19: Brett Pesce
• April 20: Victor Rask
• April 21: Elias Lindholm
• April 24: Eddie Lack
• April 25: Brock McGinn and Jay McClement
• April 26: Andrej Nestrasil and Joakim Nordstrom
• April 27: Noah Hanifin
• April 28: Ryan Murphy
• May 1: Derek Ryan
• May 2: Jeff Skinner
• May 3: Jaccob Slavin
• May 4: Jordan Staal
• May 5: Lee Stempniak
• May 8: Matt Tennyson
• May 9: Teuvo Teravainen
• May 10: Cam Ward
• May 11: Others receiving votes
• May 12: Coaching staff and front office

Making the Grade

Simply put: Carolina Hurricanes goaltender Eddie Lack did not have an ideal season. Lack was plagued with injuries (concussions) and inconsistency from start to finish and only started 18 games this season.

Lack was called out by Bill Peters in a mid-season scrum in which Peters stated “one guy (Cam Ward) is well ahead of the other guy (Lack).” The statement, though, had a reverse effect on Lack’s confidence, and he played well after the comments from Peters.

Lack’s strongest stretch of games was in a red-hot March in which he rambled off five wins and secured 12 out of a possible 16 points in the standings for the Canes. The month, though, ended with a devastating 4-3 overtime loss to the Detroit Red Wings in which Lack was run over by Andreas Athanasiou while the game-winning goal was scored. Luckily, Lack was not seriously injured on the play and was later released from the hospital with only a neck sprain.

Lack is not the sole component of the Hurricanes’ goaltending woes as Cam Ward can shoulder a share of the blame as well. However, with a .902 save percentage this season, Lack had his second-worst season statistically out of his four-year sample size, so he did himself no favors.

With general manager Ron Francis stating at his end of season press conference that he will fix the goaltending situation in Carolina, we may have seen Lack’s final game in a Hurricanes sweater. Lack has never started 40 games in a season and is now 29 years old. He is a serviceable backup goaltender in the NHL but will not be the long-term answer in net for the Hurricanes.

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