Amidst the fervour surrounding the Rick Nash trade to the New York Rangers there came a piece of Dallas Stars related news. Reported first as a rumour by the Goalie Guild its now been confirmed that the Dallas Stars have signed goaltender Maxime Lagace to a three year entry level contract. This makes Lagace the third free agent goaltender that the Stars organisation as a whole have signed this offseason. He joins Christopher Nihlstorp and AHL/ECHLer Josh Robinson as new acquisitions for the Stars this summer.
He currently plays for the Prince Edward Island Rocket of the QMJHL and attended the Dallas Stars Development Camp earlier this summer. He clearly impressed the Stars and earned himself an ELC. At the age of 19 he will likely continue to stay in the juniors for a while. This is a low risk high reward move for the Stars, if he does well then thats good, if however he doesn't pan out then it doesn't hugely affect the Star's long term plan.
One thing is for sure though - you won't be hearing about the Dallas Stars lack of depth in the net anymore as they have now become one of the deeper teams in the league with 7 goaltenders signed to the organisation and also Henri Kiviaho in Finland.
Press release after the jump:
Frisco, TX - The Dallas Stars announced today that the NHL club has signed goaltender Max Lagace to a three-year, entry-level contract.Lagace, 19, played 56 games last season for the Prince Edward Island Rocket in the Quebec Major-Junior Hockey League (QMJHL), where he posted a 12-34-5 record with a 4.51 goals-against-average (GAA) and a .867 save percentage (SV%).The 6-foot-2, 168-pound goaltender finished 2011-12 ranked sixth in minutes played (2,911:58), fourth in saves (1,422) and fourth in shots against (1,641) among all QMJHL goaltenders.
Earlier this year, the native of Longueuil, Quebec was selected as one of three goaltenders who will represent Hockey Canada in the Canada-Russia Challenge this August, an event that is replacing Canada's Junior Team summer development camp. Lagace also participated in Dallas' Development Camp earlier this summer.