While the Chicago Blackhawks have had a fairly quiet off-season, they have made a few moves. One of them was bringing back old friend Sam Lafferty, as the Original Six club acquired him from the Buffalo Sabres in exchange for a 2026 sixth-round pick.
The Blackhawks clearly like Lafferty as a player, as this is the third time that they have acquired him. This includes just this past off-season, as the Blackhawks acquired Lafferty's signing rights, forward Ilya Mikheyev, and a 2027 second-round pick from the Vancouver Canucks. However, the Blackhawks and Lafferty did not agree to a new contract before July 1 of last year, so he became an unrestricted free agent (UFA) and signed with the Sabres.
The Sabres moving on from Lafferty this off-season was not necessarily surprising. The 6-foot-2 forward struggled to find his fit with the Sabres in 2024-25, posting just four goals, three assists, and a minus-15 rating in 60 games. Overall, it was a rough year offensively for Lafferty, and he will now look to bounce back with the Blackhawks from here.
When looking at Lafferty's recent previous seasons, there is reason to believe that he could turn things around with Chicago. Just back during the 2023-24 campaign with the Canucks, he scored a career-high 13 goals and recorded 24 points in 79 games. This was after he had 12 goals and a career-high 27 points in 70 games split between the Blackhawks and Toronto Maple Leafs during the 2022-23 season. Thus, the potential for him to provide decent secondary offensive production again could be there.
If Lafferty's offense does go up and he maintains his physical style of play, he could end up being a very solid addition to the Blackhawks' bottom six next season. It will be intriguing to see if he can be just that from here.
Blackhawks' Connor Bedard Receives Massive PraiseChicago Blackhawks forward Connor Bedard just completed his second NHL season, and it is hard not to be optimistic about his future with the Original Six club. In 82 games on the year, the 5-foot-10 forward set new career highs with 23 goals, 44 assists, and 67 points. When noting that he was only 19 years old throughout the entire 2024-25 campaign, this kind of production is quite impressive.
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