Flames add Lazar from Senators

Curtis Lazar’s hockey career needs a jumpstart. He believes the Calgary Flames can apply the booster cables.

The 22-year-old forward from Salmon Arm, B.C., was the centrepiece of Calgary’s tradedeadline deal with the Ottawa Senators on Wednesday.

The Flames sent defenceman Jyrki Jokipakka and a second-round draft pick this year to Ottawa for Lazar and defenceman Michael Kostka.

“You look at the possibility and the future I can have with the Flames and I couldn’t be more excited to get there and start my adventure in Calgary,” Lazar told The Canadian Press en route to the Ottawa airport.

“I like the young core of players they have. I want to go there and try and complement that group. They’re in a dogfight for the playoffs right now. I think I can help out and hopefully I can do that and help them make the postseason.”

Diagnosed with mononucleosis in training camp, Lazar was playing catch-up this season.

He was assigned to Ottawa’s AHL team in Binghamton, N.Y., to start the season where he had three goals and an assist in 13 games before he was recalled.

With just one assist in 33 games and a minus10 rating in his third season in Ottawa, Lazar was a healthy scratch in recent games.

He needed a change and Senators general manager Pierre Dorion agreed.

“We all saw that it wasn’t working out with Curtis this year,” said Dorion. “We just felt that (it was) giving him a fresh start, new opportunity and at the same time we were looking to improve our defensive depth and adding a high pick in this draft.”

The trade reunites Lazar with former Senators head coach Dave Cameron, who is in his first season as a Flames assistant to Glen Gulutzan.

The six-foot, 209-pound forward has a career 12 goals and 24 assists in 176 games for the Senators. Lazar is in the final year of his entrylevel contract.

The 17th overall pick in the 2013 NHL draft won a Memorial Cup with the Edmonton Oil Kings in 2014 and was captain of the Canadian junior team that won a gold medal in 2015.