The Vancouver Canucks made a trade on Sunday (Oct. 8), acquiring forward Sam Lafferty from the Toronto Maple Leafs in exchange for a 2024 fifth-round pick. The 28-year-old does have some ties to the Canucks organization, as Jim Rutherford drafted him into the NHL back in 2014 when he was general manager of the Pittsburgh Penguins. Last season, he split time between the Chicago Blackhawks and Maple Leafs, playing 70 games and recording 27 points.
Listed at 6-foot-2, 205 pounds, Lafferty is a player who loves to play a physical game. He has recorded over 120 hits in each of the last two seasons and has shown to be strong on the forecheck. Based on the current Canucks roster, expect him to play a role in the team’s bottom six as well as on the penalty kill.
Lafferty’s 2022-23 Season
As mentioned, Lafferty spent the 2022-23 season split between the Blackhawks and Maple Leafs organization. He played the majority of it with Chicago recording 21 points in 50 games before being moved to Toronto prior to the trade deadline, where he recorded six points in his final 19 games. During his time with the Maple Leafs, he also played in nine playoff games, recording three points and finishing sixth on Toronto with 23 hits.
Lafferty also showed that he can be strong in the faceoff dot. While in Chicago, he won 219 of the 418 or 52 percent of the faceoffs he took. He was also very strong in the defensive zone, where he won 56.8 percent of the 206 faceoffs he lined up for. In comparison, the Canucks as a unit only won 50.3 percent of all their defensive zone draws, finishing ranked 22nd across the league. While his faceoff numbers did see a slight decline once he arrived in Toronto, winning just 45.5 percent of the 67 faceoffs he took, overall, he had a solid showing in the dot, which Vancouver hopes will continue into this season.
Lafferty’s Fit With the Canucks
Lafferty should help Vancouver in a couple of different ways. The first is his physicality. Last season, only four Canucks finished with more hits than the former Penguin, and two are no longer with the organization. It is clear that head coach Rick Tocchet wants his team to play a more grinding style of hockey which should be right in the wheelhouse of their newest acquisition.
The second way is Lafferty’s speed. He has shown over his NHL career that he can beat forecheckers to loose pucks in the offensive zone and also recover defensively to prevent rushes the other way. Over the last few seasons, it is clear the Canucks have been one of the slower teams in the league, so the hope is he can use that speed to at least delay the opposition from clearing the puck out of their own zone at a rapid pace.
The last area is on the penalty kill. While players like Elias Pettersson and J.T. Miller showed that they can have success shorthanded, the Canucks should be limiting their ice time while on the penalty kill to keep them fresh throughout the game. Lafferty should be able to take some of those minutes while also improving Vancouver’s penalty kill, which finished in last place during the 2022-23 season.
Canucks Skipped Line for Lafferty
When breaking down this trade, it is clear the Canucks really wanted Lafferty and didn’t want to run the risk of losing out on his services to another team. He was most likely going to end up on waivers, which is why Vancouver found it necessary to give up a draft pick in order to ensure he ended up as a Canuck. Overall, he should fit in well with the way the team wants to play, and hopefully, with the goal being that he can make an impact on special teams and in Vancouver’s bottom six.
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