Blackhawks Acquire Former Maple Leaf Sam Lafferty in Trade With Sabres

With the NHL offseason set to get frenzied in due time, we have yet another trade to announce, though this one has a little less lustre than the Mitch Marner one.

It was announced that the Chicago Blackhawks have acquired forward Sam Lafferty from the Buffalo Sabres for a 2026 6th-round pick.

Lafferty, 30, had seven points in 60 games for the Sabres, and has 90 points in 345 career games.

He spent one season in Toronto, playing in 19 games and registering six points; he was part of the trade that brought Jake McCabe to Toronto.

Lafferty was then dealt to the Vancouver Canucks for a 5th-round pick in 2024, which was used to select Timofey Obvintsev.

Drafted 113th overall by the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2014, he's carved out a career as a dependable bottom-six forward, who brings a ton of physicality, plays solid defense and is decent enough at winning face-offs to make an impact.

It comes off the heels of trading for Andre Burakovsky, and will bring Lafferty back to the place he spent two seasons with. In his first stint with the Blackhawks, he had 32 points in 97 games before being dealt in the aforementioned McCabe deal.

Buffalo continues to rebuild, and moving on from Lafferty gives them the ability to pursue some young, cheap free agents, or use that pick in a package to trade Bowen Byram somewhere and get a massive haul in return.

New senior advisor Jarmo Kekkelainen has his hands all over this, and with him and Kevyn Adams working together, you might find the Sabres make a few more moves that put them in a much better position going forward.