The Blackhawks have reportedly kicked off free agency day by bringing back an old friend.
According to Scott Powers of The Athletic, the Blackhawks are trading with the Buffalo Sabres for forward Sam Lafferty in exchange for a 2026 sixth-round pick.
[UPDATE]: The trade is official now.
welcome back to Chicago, Sam Lafferty‼️👏
— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) July 1, 2025
📰 ➡︎ https://t.co/SrGPYWevac pic.twitter.com/XGw3N6nzP4
Lafferty, who turned 30 in March, is a 6-foot-2, 205-pound forward who tallied 7 points (4 G, 3 A) in 60 games with the Buffalo Sabres last season after signing a two-year contract with them last summer, and the final season will carry a cap hit of $2 million.
Earlier this decade, Lafferty was on the Blackhawks and enjoyed some of the best hockey of his career, tallying 32 points (15 G, 17 A) in the 97 games he played across two seasons with Chicago before being flipped to Toronto ahead of the 2023 trade deadline as part of the deal that gave Chicago an additional first-round pick in this year’s draft which became Vaclav Nestrasil.
It’s worth noting, though, that Lafferty’s average ice time in Chicago was 14:53, well above his career mark of 11:50 and more than he had during three seasons in Pittsburgh (9:35) before coming to Chicago and more than he had in every stop since: Toronto (13:15), Vancouver (11:53) and Buffalo (9:53).
Lafferty is likely a depth forward addition who can certainly fill a fourth-line role, although it’s fair to wonder why the Blackhawks would add a veteran forward to handle that responsibility when those kinds of players shouldn’t be all that difficult to produce within their own prospect pool.
And if that move feels largely underwhelming, Powers suggested that there may not be any other acquisitions coming on Tuesday to change that mood:
There's a good chance that is all the Blackhawks do today. We'll see, but I wouldn't be surprised.
— Scott Powers (@scottpowers.bsky.social) July 1, 2025 at 11:05 AM