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Photo of Sam Lafferty

Sam Lafferty

#18 · Centre · Florida Panthers

Born Mar 6, 1995 in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania, USA (age 31) · 6'2", 205 lb · Shoots right · Drafted 113th overall in 2014 by PIT (round 4)

Compare with a similar player

The forwards closest to him in points in 2026-27. Pick one to see the two side by side, or choose someone else.

Alexey Toropchenko STL · 0 P in 1 GP Andre Burakovsky OTT · 0 P in 1 GP Andre Lee LAK · 0 P in 1 GP Andrew Mangiapane CHI · 0 P in 1 GP Aydar Suniev CGY · 0 P in 1 GP

Career

Regular season games only. Pick a season to see its game log below. Cap hit is what he counted against the salary cap that season, where it is known.

010202019-20: 13 points1319-202020-21: 6 points620-212021-22: 13 points1321-222022-23: 27 points2722-232023-24: 24 points2423-242024-25: 7 points724-252025-26: 2 points225-262026-27: 0 points026-27

Points by season. The darker bar is the season shown below.

Season Team GP G A P +/- PIM Shots Hits P/GP Cap hit
2019-20 PIT 50 6 7 13 5 23 56 95 0.26 $768K
2020-21 PIT 34 0 6 6 -6 25 33 89 0.18 $750K
2021-22 PIT 10 0 2 2 0 16 9 34 0.20 $750K
2021-22 CHI 46 5 6 11 -16 21 71 103 0.24
2022-23 CHI 51 10 11 21 -10 28 83 94 0.41 $1.15M
2022-23 TOR 19 2 4 6 -1 9 19 31 0.32
2023-24 VAN 79 13 11 24 4 32 78 192 0.30 $1.15M
2024-25 BUF 60 4 3 7 -15 28 50 89 0.12 $2M
2025-26 CHI 29 1 1 2 -2 14 9 35 0.07 $2M
2026-27 FLA 1 0 0 0 0 2 0 1 0.00 $850K
8 seasons Career 379 41 51 92 -41 198 408 763 0.24

Playoffs

Playoff games only. Pick a season to see that year's bracket.

Season Team GP G A P +/- PIM Shots Hits P/GP
2019-20 PIT 1 0 0 0 -1 0 0 4 0.00
2022-23 TOR 9 1 2 3 -1 2 8 23 0.33
2023-24 VAN 11 0 0 0 -2 2 7 27 0.00
3 seasons Playoffs 21 1 2 3 -4 4 15 54 0.14

2026-27 season totals

GP G A P +/- PIM Shots Hits P/GP Shooting % Avg TOI
1 0 0 0 0 2 0 1 0.00 0.0 9:30

Contract

$850KCap hitends in 2027
-$1MWorth at the going ratewhat teams paid for a season like his
-$1.9MValueworth minus cap hit; below zero is overpaid

His cap hit for the whole season, set against what he did in the regular season. Lower is better value. In a season still being played the cost per point starts high and falls as the games add up. The season is still being played, so each rating is projected over the whole season: the games played so far, plus the games left at the rate of the last three seasons and this one. He rated at or below a spare-part player, so there is no cost per goal to show. Value is coloured by where it ranks among the 651 ranked skaters whose contract is known. How value is worked out.

The contract

Signed by the Florida Panthers on Jul 1, 2026, as a new contract (two-way): 1 year and $850K, beginning in 2026-27. It runs through 2026-27, so this is its last season.

Season Cap hit
2026-27 $850K

Each season left on the contract. Only its cap hit and its end are known: how the pay is split by season, and any signing bonus, are not.

Contracts he has signed

Signed Signed by Kind Seasons Years In all Cap hit
Jul 1, 2026 Florida Panthers New contract (two-way) 2026-27 to 2026-27 1 $850K $850K
Jul 1, 2024 Buffalo Sabres New contract 2024-25 to 2025-26 2 $4M $2M
Apr 29, 2022 Chicago Blackhawks Extension 2022-23 to 2023-24 2 $2.3M $1.15M
Oct 8, 2020 Pittsburgh Penguins Extension 2020-21 to 2021-22 2 $1.5M $750K
Mar 6, 2018 Pittsburgh Penguins Entry-level 2018-19 to 2019-20 2 $1.85M $768K

Every contract on record for him, newest first, with the team that signed him to it and the day it was signed. The one covering 2026-27 is marked. An extension is signed while the contract before it is still running, often a year ahead. A row with no team or date is a contract known only by its cap hit, most often one signed since October 2024.

2026-27 analytics

Rating, projected over the full season

2026-27 is still being played, so these are a projection of his whole season, not a count so far: what he has done in 1 game (-0.3 goals above replacement), plus the 43 more he is taken to play, going by how much of his team's games he has played before, at a rate set by his last three seasons and this one. The more he plays, the more this season counts, and by the last game it is simply his season.

-1.9Goals above replacement611th of 651 skaters, 411th of 424 forwards
-0.3Wins above replacementgoals above replacement divided by six
-2.9Goals above averagethe five parts below added up

Each number is coloured by where it ranks among the 424 ranked forwards: green is in the top fifth and red the bottom fifth, with paler shades in between and amber for the middle. Hover over a tile for its percentile.

Even-strength offence-3.0 8th percentileEven-strength defence+0.9 69th percentilePower play-0.1 47th percentilePenalty kill-0.2 18th percentilePenalties-0.6 13th percentile

The goals he added to his team's goal difference, compared with a spare-part player given the same ice time. Each part is measured against the league, so zero is an average skater, and the rank beside it is among forwards. A full season is about two-thirds the player and one-third chance.

-4-20242019-202020-212021-222022-232023-242024-252025-262026-27Goals above replacementGoals above replacement, by season

On the ice

What happened at five-on-five while he was on the ice. What these numbers mean

61.5Corsi for %8 attempts for, 5 against
+16.8CF% relative to teamagainst the team without him
49.1Expected goals for %0.2 expected for, 0.2 against
+2.9xGF% relative to teamagainst the team without him
54.5Fenwick for %unblocked attempts
0.0Goals for %0 for, 0 against
100.0PDO0.0% shooting + 100.0% saves
0Attempts takenhis own shot attempts

These are left plain: he has not been on the ice enough to be ranked. That takes at least 200 shot attempts with him out there, about six or seven games, and a quarter of what the busiest skater has. Over a game or two these numbers are mostly chance.

Who he played with

Forward lineGPTimeCF%xGF%Goals
Garnet Hathaway · Sam Lafferty · Bokondji Imama14:5658.344.80-0
Sam Reinhart · Sam Lafferty · Bokondji Imama10:210.00.00-0

The lines he spent the most time in at five-on-five, with the team's share of the shot attempts and expected goals, and the goals for and against, while they were out. The two shares are coloured as above, against the league's lines that played a fair amount together. Hover over one for its percentile.

Game log

Date Opponent Result G A P +/- PIM Shots Hits TOI
Oct 10, 2026 vs MIN L 1-4 0 0 0 0 2 0 1 09:30