Sam Lafferty hopes to have found home with Blackhawks
This marks an extremely important season for Lafferty, whose two-year contract that carries a $750,000 cap hit expires at the end of the campaign. Lafferty brings some grit and depth to the Blackhawks roster and is a great bottom six forward on any team. Although he's only played 16 games so far this year, Lafferty is hoping to have found a home with the Blackhawks.
"I think anything can happen, but I love it here so far," Lafferty said after practice on Thursday. "For me, I just have to take care of business on the ice, that's the most important part. But it'd be awesome if it worked out."
Derek King had a few words about Lafferty's game and how much of a positive impact he has on the team. He's an essential player to have obviously and Derek King wishes he had more players like him on his team.
"I like his pace," King said. "I like the way he plays. He's a really good PK guy. He brings a lot of energy to this group. I'd like to have a few more players like him. Is he going to dangle everybody and pop in 30 goals? No. But he's going to help other lines create stuff."
With only one goal on the year so far in 16 games, Lafferty hopes to get more results on the scoresheet.
"Hopefully the finish comes," Lafferty said smiling. "That would be great. ... For me, it's a lot of my play down low and then figuring out how to create chances around the net with tips and things like that. It's something we're definitely working on."
Lafferty brings a lot of versatility to this Blackhawks team and he's the kind of player a coach can trust to play a certain role and produce.
"I've been given tons of opportunity and I'm really grateful for that," he said. "I just want to keep growing and keep playing to my strengths as much as I can. As far as that goes, I think it's been great so far."
