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Curtis Lazar Becomes Fan-Favorite After Revealing Why He Chose Edmonton Over Everyone Else

Originally posted on Hockey Latest | By Daniel Lucente | Last updated Jul 9, 2025 5:57 PM ET

Newly signed forward Curtis Lazar revealed that he chose to come to Edmonton because he believes the Oilers can help him get his game back to form.

Signing with the Edmonton Oilers was a no-brainer for Curtis Lazar. The Salmon Arm, B.C., product spent his junior years adorning the Edmonton Oil Kings jersey of the WHL (2010-14), winning two league titles and the Memorial Cup in his final year.

A decade and a bit later, however, he's back for an encore, and it's for a single year, inking a one-year, $775,000 deal.

Since being drafted 17th overall by Ottawa in 2013, Curtis Lazar's NHL career has seen him go the route of detours through Calgary, Buffalo, Boston, Vancouver, and New Jersey.

Yet the chance to return to Edmonton, where he excelled as a 41-goal man in his junior year, was one he did not want to bypass.

'I'm super happy to be going back to Edmonton, I think everybody knows that's where my hockey career started, playing junior and I had a lot of success there. We were the last team from the WHL to win the Memorial Cup,' Lazar told NHL.com.
'This summer, kind of looking at the landscape of the league and after the tough season I had last year, I was thinking of where I can get my game back and where I can help a team win? Edmonton checked all those boxes.

'It came down to them reaching out and when I got that phone call, it was a no-brainer for me. I'm super happy, I don't think I could end up in a better place and I'm looking forward to get going.'

'I love their winning mindset and I'm going to try and do as much heavy lifting as I can to help them out.'

Realizing that he had to play a more agile game in order to succeed in the NHL, Lazar became a grinding bottom-six forward.

Lazar has now had two surgeries on his knees, limiting his play and production

But it was a tough year in New Jersey, where he was limited to only five points in 48 games after a second surgery on his knees. Lazar comes aboard with an Oilers group that is looking to regroup after back-to-back Stanley Cup Final losses.

There was plenty of roster turnover, with them losing Corey Perry, John Klingberg, and Connor Brown, as well as Evander Kane and Viktor Arvidsson in trades.

Edmonton pushed back by bringing in Lazar, signing Andrew Mangiapane to a two-year contract, and re-signing Kasperi Kapanen and Trent Frederic.

Lazar catches up again with Connor McDavid, his teammate on the gold medal-winning Canada 2015 World Junior team.

This article first appeared on Hockey Latest and was syndicated with permission.

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