Edmonton, AB--Edmonton Rush GM/Head Coach Derek Keenan is pleased to announce the club has made a major trade today, acquiring seven-time National Lacrosse League all-star and former Champion’s Cup final MVP Gavin Prout from the Rochester Knighthawks.

Prout, along with forward Dean Hill, were shipped to the Rush in exchange for Edmonton’s first-round pick in the 2011 NLL Entry Draft plus a conditional second-round pick. Prout, a native of Whitby, ON, was acquired by Rochester last week in a trade with Colorado.

“We made significant changes to the team over the past few months and I liked how our team was shaping up,” said Keenan. “But I had been saying for a long time that I wanted to add one more marquee offensive player and we’ve done that now with the additional of Gavin.

“He had been a consistent and dynamic offensive threat in this league for a long time and I think he will continue to produce in a big way here in Edmonton, plus give our other offensive players that much more room to work as well.”

The eight-year veteran has racked up 671 points including 230 goals during 127 regular-season games. Prout has notched three seasons of 90-plus points including a career-high 93 in 2006. That same season, the five-foot-10, 185-pound forward compiled 10 goals and 15 assists in three playoff games in leading the Mammoth to the NLL title. That contribution earned Prout the Champion’s Cup game most valuable player award.

Last season, Prout became Colorado’s all-time leading scorer, finishing the year with 26 goals and 48 points for 74 points. The 31-year-old has scored 30-plus goals three times with his career-high of 34 coming in 2004

Prior to joining Colorado, Prout played two seasons for the New York Saints, who made him the first overall pick in the 2001 NLL Entry Draft. His 82-point inaugural season earned him a nod on the NLL’s All-Rookie Team.

In Hill, the Rush have landed another player expected to give them more offensive punch. The six-foot-three, 225-pounder from Scarborough, ON, has recorded 95 points in 30 regular-season games including a career-high 53 points in 2007 with Minnesota. It was with that Swarm club that Hill found his greatest success and he is now reunited with two other top-scoring members of that team in Rush forwards Andy Secore and Ryan Ward

“I’m thrilled that Dean is part of this trade,” added Keenan. “Two years ago Minnesota had one of the top-scoring teams in the league and we now have the three main sources of that offense in Hill, Secore and Ward.”

In addition to the players acquired in the trade, the Rush have also signed three players for the 2010 season in Ian Crashley, Craig Zeeh, and Jordan Cornfield.

Crashley, a six-foot-five, 185-pound defender, was injured and did not play last season after being traded to the Rush from Portland during the 2008 season. Zeeh, a rugged 215-pound defender, was the Rush’s sixth-round pick in the 2009 NLL Entry Draft out of the Kitchener-Waterloo Braves. Cornfield, an Edmonton product, played six games for the Rush in the club’s inaugural 2006 season and then spent the following two campaigns with Colorado. Cornfield has 33 points in 22 career regular-season games.

The Rush opens the regular season on the road against the Washington Stealth on January 15 and the next day against the Colorado Mammoth at Pepsi Center on Saturday, January 16. The Rush opens its home regular season on Saturday, January 23 against the Buffalo Bandits at Rexall Place.

photo by Michael Martin