Pens ship Lafferty to Blackhawks
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From Mirror, wire reports
CHICAGO -- The Chicago Blackhawks acquired forward Sam Lafferty, a Hollidaysburg native, in a trade with the Pittsburgh Penguins on Wednesday in exchange for forward Alex Nylander.
Lafferty is slated to join the slumping Blackhawks in Arizona. The 26-year-old Lafferty, who is signed through this season with a $750,000 salary-cap hit, has no goals and two assists in 10 games with the Penguins this season.
"I loved my time as a Penguin,'' Lafferty texted to the Mirror Wednesday night. "It was a dream come true to play for my childhood team, and I made some lifelong friends.
"That being said, I'm very excited for a new opportunity with Chicago. It's an original six franchise with a ton of history and success. I'm looking forward to helping the team any way I can.''
Lafferty, a fourth-round selection by Pittsburgh in the 2014 draft, has six goals and 15 assists in 94 career NHL games. The Blackhawks announced Wednesday Lafferty will be added to the active roster and wear uniform No. 24.
Nylander has spent this season with Rockford of the American Hockey League, collecting eight goals and four assists in 23 games. He had 10 goals and 16 assists in 65 games for Chicago during the 2019-20 season and then missed last year because of a left knee injury.
Nylander, 23, was selected by Buffalo with the No. 8 pick in the 2016 draft. He was traded to Chicago in July 2019 for Henri Jokiharju, who has developed into a promising young defenseman for the Sabres.
Chicago, with a record of 11-17-5 and in seventh place in the Central Division, has dropped five in a row heading into tonight's game at Arizona.
The Blackhawks also announced that they had recalled Nicolas Beaudin from Rockford and assigned the defenseman to their taxi squad. Veteran forward Brett Connolly was assigned to the taxi squad from the active roster, and forward Kurtis Gabriel and defenseman Alec Regula were reassigned to Rockford.