The New York Saints came to terms with first-overall draft pick Gavin Prout late last night, ending the long-running threat of a protracted holdout.

Prout had flown to Long Island to hammer out a contract with Saints owner Mike Gongas. Terms were not disclosed.

Prout became the subject of a major controversy this summer when he expressed an intense desire to play for the New Jersey Storm instead of the Calgary Roughnecks, the original owner of the top pick, or the Saints, who acquired the selection in a 19 June trade.

Further complicating matters, rumors were swirling that Storm owner Jayson Williams offered Prout a substantial amount of money to sit out the next two seasons in order to gain his unrestricted free agency. This would have allowed the Storm to acquire Prout without surrending draft picks or players to another team.

Both Williams and Prout denied the allegations of a payoff, which could have decimated the NLL's competitive balance. In the end, Gongas decided to risk losing his top pick to a holdout, taking Prout with the first pick of the 25 August Entry Draft.

Soon after he was drafted, Prout said that he would not create problems by sitting out and that a signing would be imminent. Although it took another four weeks after that to ice the deal, Prout kept his word.