The New Jersey Devils have acquired forward Curtis Lazar in a deal with the Vancouver Canucks, the teams announced Friday. Here’s what you need to know:
New Jersey sent its 2024 fourth-round pick to Vancouver in the deal.
Lazar, 28, has scored three goals and two assists in 14 penalty minutes in 45 games this season with the Canucks.
The 2013 first-round draft pick signed a three-year contract extension with Vancouver at an annual average of $1 million per year in July 2022.
Instant Athletic Analysis:
Lazar time in vancouver
Lazar was signed in the summer to be a stabilizing force as a fourth-line center who shoots on the right and can kill penalties and win the tie. For whatever reason, it didn’t click in Vancouver. He was unable to upgrade the Canucks’ penalty kick, which is currently still dead in the league, and ended up spending most of his time on the wing rather than center. Moving on from remaining term on his modest $1 million cap he made while a draft pick is a decent job by the Canucks. – Dayal
What Lazar brings to the demons
The Devils’ fourth line has done better than their base numbers show this season, and some of that has to do with what they’re letting back in. By adding Lazar, there is another option for coaches to use when that line needs to be stressed in their own area. It might even provide a little safety net if one of their fourth liners, a pending unrestricted free agent, departs because Lazar has two more years left on his low-priced $1 million deal.
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