Prust spent last season with the Vancouver Canucks after coming over from Montreal in a swap for Zack Kassian. He played only 44 games in 2015-16, nine of which were with Utica in the AHL, accumulating seven points in 35 NHL appearances while playing a little less than 13 minutes per game on average.
The London, Ontario native battled an ankle injury for the majority of the season before a mutual agreement with the Canucks ended his season short so he could get an early start on offseason rehab. The injury took place just nine games into the season in a late October meeting against his former team:
Prior to the ankle injury — which sidelined him nearly a month, and continued to nag him for the remainder of the year — Prust had been enjoying a fine start to the season with five points in nine games, including a two-point night prior to his injury.