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Sam Lafferty

Snapshots: Three Stars, Lafferty, Claesson

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With no games scheduled until Tuesday, the NHL has gone ahead and released its Three Stars for this past week.  Capitals winger Alex Ovechkin took home the top nod after recording six points in three games, including two goals against Winnipeg to put him in sole possession of second in NHL history with 802.  Avalanche goaltender Alexandar Georgiev was the Second Star after a trio of extra-time victories that saw him post a 0.94 GAA along with a .965 SV%.  Meanwhile, Canucks center Elias Pettersson earned the last spot of the group after tying for the most assists (five) and points (seven) on the week which is particularly impressive considering he missed Vancouver’s first game of the week due to illness.

Elsewhere around the hockey world:

  • While Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews are the headliners among Chicago’s speculative trade candidates, Charlie Roumeliotis of NBC Sports Chicago posits that forward Sam Lafferty might be of interest on the trade market closer to the trade deadline. The 27-year-old has eight points and 37 hits in 26 games this season while winning a little over 52% of his faceoffs.  He can play all three forward positions as well and that type of versatility can be appealing to contending teams.  At a $1.15MM AAV through next season, he’s also someone most teams should be able to afford so Lafferty could very well be an under-the-radar candidate to move over the next couple of months from the Blackhawks.
  • Fredrik Claesson won’t be returning to North America next season as CSKA Moscow of the KHL announced that they’ve inked the defenseman to a two-year contract extension. Claesson has 170 career NHL contests under his belt and this will be the first time since 2014-15 that he hasn’t played at the top level.  However, after spending most of last year in the minors, he opted to try his hand overseas and it has worked out well for him with receiving this commitment.  The 30-year-old has a dozen points in 41 games so far this season.

Snapshots: Pavelski, Blackhawks, Sweezey

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Over the last few months, the Dallas Stars have signed two-thirds of their top line to multi-year contracts, handing Jason Robertson a four-year bridge and today extending Roope Hintz for another eight seasons. Joe Pavelski, the elder statesman in the dynamic trio, is scheduled for unrestricted free agency at the end of the year. When asked today about Pavelski’s future with the club, general manager Jim Nill told Matthew DeFranks of the Dallas Morning News that it will be up to the veteran forward:

I think we’ll wait and see. Joe’s playing very well, and let’s see how the season goes. That’s really probably going to be Joe’s call. If he still feels he can play at the high standard he wants to play at, then we’ll sit down and talk.

The 38-year-old Pavelski still has what it takes to succeed at the NHL level and alongside his younger teammates, he is still excelling. With 24 points in 23 games, he is on pace for the first point-per-game season of his career, something he has flirted with several times but not actually accomplished. Last year he came oh-so-close, with 81 points in 82 games, and it would be quite the star on an exquisite resume to reach that goal at his age. One other milestone within reach is 1,000 points, which Pavelski sits just 52 away from. With his next point, he’ll pass Chris Chelios and tie Vincent Lecavalier for 108th on the all-time NHL scoring list.

  • The Chicago Blackhawks will be without Sam Lafferty and Jarred Tinordi for at least a week, according to Mark Lazerus of The Athletic. The two are dealing with back and hip injuries respectively, and didn’t practice today. Lazerus also relays an update on goaltender Alex Stalock, who is still dealing with a concussion. His progression has been slowed in recent days as he continues to feel the effects of the Casey Cizikas hit from earlier this month.
  • After ten days with the club and no action, Billy Sweezey has been sent back down by the Columbus Blue Jackets. The 26-year-old defenseman is probably not complaining, given the fact that he earned the NHL salary of his two-way contract – the first of his career – for that period. Sweezey signed a two-year deal in March after a good season with the Cleveland Monsters in 2021-22, when he racked up 114 penalty minutes and 11 points in 70 games.

Injury Notes: Bryson, Lafferty, Chinakhov

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The Buffalo Sabres updated a few injuries today, with some good and bad news coming along. Kyle Okposo will be back in the lineup tonight, and Rasmus Asplund is only out day-to-day. Unfortunately, Jacob Bryson is on the shelf on a week-to-week basis after leaving Wednesday’s game with a lower-body injury.

Some Sabres fans may argue it’s no big loss, given how Bryson has played of late – his usage has been steadily declining – but losing defensive depth is never a positive. The 25-year-old was a solid piece for Buffalo last season and despite recent challenges, is still an important player to keep in the mix. The Sabres will take on the New Jersey Devils tonight, a tough task (especially after the chaos that surrounded New Jersey’s last game).

USA Hockey Announces Roster For 2022 World Championship

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The U.S. roster for the upcoming IIHF World Championship has been set, a group that includes both NHL stars and prospects waiting for their first opportunity. The event will be held later this month in Helsinki, Finland, and will see the U.S. squad try to improve from their third-place finish a year ago.

The full roster:

G Jon Gillies
G Strauss Mann
G Alex Nedeljkovic

D Nick Blankenburg
D Jordan Harris
D Luke Hughes
D Caleb Jones
D Seth Jones
D Jaycob Megna
D Andrew Peeke
D Nate Schmidt

F Riley Barber
F Kieffer Bellows
F Thomas Bordeleau
F Sasha Chmelevski
F Sean Farrell
F Alex Galchenyuk
F Adam Gaudette
F John Hayden
F Sam Lafferty
F Vinni Lettieri
F Karson Kuhlman
F Ben Meyers
F Austin Watson

One of the most interesting names to watch will be Mann, who represented his country at the Olympics earlier this year and recently signed an entry-level contract with the San Jose Sharks. The 23-year-old netminder has had quite an odd path to this point, including going undrafted, playing three years at the University of Michigan, and then going to play in Sweden this season.

It will certainly be some mixed emotions for Canadian fans from the Montreal area, given how this squad includes two of the highly-touted Canadiens prospects in Harris and Farrell. The former signed and made his debut at the end of the year, while the latter just completed an outstanding rookie season at Harvard. Farrell was also a part of the U.S. Olympic squad this year, and scored three goals and six points in four games on the international stage.

The U.S. will kick things off on May 13 against Latvia.

Chicago Blackhawks Extend Sam Lafferty

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The Chicago Blackhawks have obviously enjoyed what they’ve seen from Sam Lafferty down the stretch, as the team has signed him to a two-year contract extension. The deal will carry a $1.15MM cap hit and keeps Lafferty from becoming an unrestricted free agent this summer.

Acquired in January from the Pittsburgh Penguins, Lafferty has found himself playing more in Chicago than he ever has before. Averaging nearly 15 minutes a night in 45 appearances, he has racked up five goals and 101 hits for the Blackhawks this season. That never-ending work ethic and willingness to forecheck has been a refreshing sight, especially given the player that Chicago traded for him.

There have been high hopes for Alexander Nylander since he was selected eighth overall in 2016, but he’s now on his third NHL organization without any real success. The Buffalo Sabres first selected him and saw an inconsistent effort through several seasons, before eventually flipping him to the Blackhawks for Henri Jokiharju (a trade that looks quite good for them now). In Chicago he was given a chance to play regularly, but a serious injury cost him any real career momentum and he’s now back in the minor leagues with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.

Of course, Lafferty isn’t being brought back to really change the look of the Blackhawks’ forward group. With general manager Kyle Davidson promising a rebuild, players like the 27-year-old can fill out the depth chart for a few years until some younger talent is ready to take over. Ultimately, his job is to stay competitive but kind of bridge the gap between the struggles and the success, all while potentially being a deadline chip down the road.

For the player, though, it’s easy to see why an extension would be appealing. Lafferty’s highest salary to this point in his career was the $800K he made this season, meaning a $1.15MM average annual value is a nice little upgrade. It also likely secures him some playing time at the NHL level, something that certainly wasn’t guaranteed elsewhere. In 139 career games, he has 32 points.

Mark Lazerus of The Athletic was first to report the deal. 

West Notes: Karlsson, Lafferty, MacLellan

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Although Erik Karlsson got off to a very strong start to his season, the defenseman told reporters, including Curtis Pashelka of The Mercury News, that he actually suffered the forearm injury that has him out of the lineup now back in September.  The veteran had 26 points in 33 games for the Sharks before the pain became too much to overcome.  Karlsson has since undergone surgery and is believed to be roughly two weeks away from returning to the lineup and will certainly be a welcome addition to a San Jose squad that is trying to climb their way back into the postseason picture.

More from the Western Conference:

  • While his time with Chicago has been limited having only been traded there last month, winger Sam Lafferty told reporters, including NBC Sports Chicago’s Charlie Roumeliotis, that he’s hoping to re-sign with the Blackhawks. The pending UFA has averaged nearly 15 minutes a game after being acquired from Pittsburgh and while he has only scored once, he has been praised by interim head coach Derek King for his energy and penalty killing ability.  Lafferty is a pending unrestricted free agent with an AAV of $750K and could earn a small boost on that on the open market in July.
  • The Kings were without head coach Todd McLellan last night as he was placed into COVID protocol, the team announced (Twitter link). Trent Yawney was the acting head coach for their win in Anaheim and should stay in that role until McLellan is cleared to return which should be in five days from now.

Kirby Dach, Dylan Strome Enter COVID Protocol

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5:38 pm: The placements are now official, according to The Athletic’s Mark Lazerus.

5:27 pm: NBC Sports Chicago’s Charlie Roumeliotis reports that Chicago Blackhawks forwards Kirby Dach and Dylan Strome entered the NHL’s COVID-19 protocol today, meaning they’re unavailable for tonight’s contest against Montreal.

Dach is a humongous loss for this Blackhawks team. The 20-year-old center is averaging 19:34 per game, a great indicator of the trust placed in him by the team’s coaching staff. He has six goals and eight assists for 14 points through 36 games.

Strome was a healthy scratch at many points during the beginning of the season, but he’s found himself in the lineup more often under new head coach Derek King. Through 26 games, he has three goals and seven assists for 10 points.

In their absences, forward Sam Lafferty could draw in and make his Blackhawks debut. The team acquired Lafferty over a week ago (January 5) from the Pittsburgh Penguins in exchange for forward Alexander Nylander.

If Strome and Dach are subject to just a five-day quarantine, they could return on January 21 against Minnesota.

Blackhawks Place Three In COVID Protocol

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Prior to their game tonight against Arizona, the Blackhawks announced a long list of roster moves necessitated by the placement of three players in COVID protocol – defenseman Erik Gustafsson, winger Brandon Hagel, and just-acquired center Sam Lafferty.  That resulted in the promotion of defenseman Nicolas Beaudin from the taxi squad to the active roster plus the recalls of winger Mike Hardman and defenseman Ian Mitchell from AHL Rockford.

Hagel is the most notable loss of the three for Chicago as he has been a capable secondary scorer this season with eight goals and eight assists in 30 games.  Gustafsson has seven points in 30 contests in his second stint with the team while Lafferty was just brought in yesterday in a trade with Pittsburgh.  If the placement is for a confirmed positive test, they will miss at least five days.

While Mitchell has been back and forth this season on the back end, Beaudin hasn’t had much of an opportunity with the Blackhawks this season, playing just once back in November.  The 2018 first-rounder played in 19 games last season and was looking to push for a regular spot but that clearly hasn’t happened.  Meanwhile, Hardman has played in 19 games this year for Chicago, mostly on the fourth line and returns after nearly three weeks in the minors.

Chicago also made three more roster moves, calling up wingers Josiah Slavin and Kurtis Gabriel along with defenseman Jakub Galvas from Rockford to their taxi squad.  That brings the Blackhawks up to five players with that group, the others being veteran winger Brett Connolly and goaltender Cale Morris.

Pittsburgh Penguins Acquire Alex Nylander

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The Pittsburgh Penguins will be the next team that tries to get an NHL player out of Alex Nylander. They’ve acquired him from the Chicago Blackhawks in exchange for Sam Lafferty.

The one-for-one deal will see Nylander leave the Blackhawks organization after just 65 regular season games. Selected eighth overall in 2016, he arrived in Chicago after a trade from the Buffalo Sabres in 2019, played the entire 2019-20 season before suffering a major knee injury that kept him out all of last year. Through 23 games in the minor leagues this season, he has eight goals and 12 points.

A dynamic forward in Sweden and the OHL, Nylander managed just 19 games with the Sabres before being shipped out of town for Henri Jokiharju. His work ethic has been questioned at times (rightly or wrongly), while his consistency has always been an issue. Even in the minor leagues there have been times where he disappears, and so much time off due to the knee recovery has not helped. There is still upside in the 23-year-old, something that the Penguins will obviously try to coax out, but it’s beginning to seem like Nylander has missed his opportunity to be an impact player at the NHL level.

That seems to be Chicago’s take, as Lafferty represents a depth option without much upside. The 26-year-old forward has 94 games under his belt at the NHL level, with six goals and 21 points to show for it. None of those six goals have come since the start of the 2020-21 campaign, with him seeing far less ice time in Pittsburgh over the last two seasons. In fact, he’s played just ten games this year despite Pittsburgh dealing with many injuries and averages fewer than nine minutes even when he gets into the lineup.

Nylander will be a restricted free agent at the end of the season and remain in Pittsburgh’s control as long as the team issues him a qualifying offer. That’s no guarantee, though the threat of arbitration is still a year away due to his lost season.

Pittsburgh Penguins Make Several Transactions

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The Pittsburgh Penguins, who seem to be dominating the headlines lately, have grabbed another one by making several transactions ahead of their game against the Boston Bruins. Kevin Czuczman has been recalled under emergency conditions, while Sam Lafferty is up under a regular recall. Drew O’Connor, who had previously been up under emergency conditions, is now on a regular recall. Zach Aston-Reese, Juuso Riikola, and Evan Rodrigues have all been placed on long-term injured reserve retroactive to their last game played, while Marcus Pettersson has been moved to injured reserve.

Anthony Angello, Frederick Gaudreau, Will Reilly, and Yannick Weber have all been assigned to the taxi squad. All of these moves were announced by interim GM Patrik Allvin.

Czuczman is expected to be in the Penguins lineup for the first time tonight, returning to the NHL after nearly seven years. The last time he suited up at that level was April 13, 2014 with the New York Islanders, but the 30-year-old defenseman at least knows the Penguins’ system from spending the last three seasons with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.

Perhaps the most interesting addition of all is Reilly, who joins the taxi squad before ever playing a professional game. The 23-year-old defenseman was a seventh-round pick of the Penguins in 2017 and signed his entry-level contract last spring after finishing his senior season at R.P.I. While Weber is going to meet the team in New York this weekend, Reilly is really just an injury or two from being forced into the NHL lineup for the Penguins. He was a strong performer in college, recording 22 points in 34 games last season, but there’s little reason to believe he should be jumping onto the roster at this point.

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