Flames place Eddie Lack on waivers

The Calgary Flames had troubles in net last year. Heck, they’ve had troubles in net dating back to the departure of Miikka Kiprusoff years ago. This season, they solved a problem by acquiring Mike Smith – who’s been a superb starter.

New backup Eddie Lack has been decided less good. Seemingly in response to Lack’s shakiness in goal, the Flames has placed him on the waiver wire.

Lack, 29, came to the Flames in a weirdly complex trade with Carolina over the summer: the Hurricanes got ECHLer Keegan Kanzig and a 2019 sixth round pick while the Flames netted Lack (with half his salary retained by Carolina), Ryan Murphy and a 2019 seventh round pick. (And then they bought out Murphy.)

He came to town looking for rejuvenation after some struggles in Carolina. Initially hoped to become a bonafide starter on the east coast after some promising years in Vancouver as Cory Schneider’s understudy, he never quite panned out. In four appearances with the Flames this season – two in relief and two as a starter – Lack’s been iffy with a .813 save percentage. Granted, the team in front of him has looked a bit shaky compared to how poised they look in front of Mike Smith.

Lack currently carries a cap hit of $1.375 million, of which $1.075 million can be buried in the AHL – meaning if he’s sent down, he still carries an NHL cap hit of $350,000. His placement on waivers presumably means that Jon Gillies is headed back up. David Rittich has had better AHL numbers than his counterpart, but the Flames have called up Gillies first at every opportunity to do so.