Total Season Stats: 4 G, 3 A, 7 pts, -15 in 60 games
Age: 30
Contract Status: Signed – going into second year of two-year, $4 million contract signed in August 2023
Sam Lafferty was added to the Sabres roster as a bottom six forward that could possibly help shore up the team defense and chip in with a few valuable points. The long and short of it is that he didn’t.
The 30-year-old is a replacement level player whose production could be easily replaced by a rookie or AHL call-up, and is pretty much a waste of cap space. With injuries keeping him out for over twenty games, there’s little to no redeeming qualities he brings to the roster.
Ahh, maybe there is one – he won 50.6 percent of his face-offs, which ranks second on the Sabres. He wasn’t ice for too many draws though, ranking sixth for faceoffs taken by Buffalo while averaging just 9:53 a night. He also averaged 9.01 hits per 60 minutes, which was fourth among Sabres.
This might be a very forthright and harsh review, but there’s little else that could be said about the player.
Grade: F
Of all the players that Kevyn Adams added over the last summer, Lafferty is easily the biggest miss. Unfortunately Buffalo are stuck with the player for another season, and more importantly, his $2 million cap hit.