Penguins A to Z: Sam Lafferty needs to find more offense

With the Penguins in the midst of their offseason, the Tribune-Review is looking at all 48 players currently under NHL contracts to the organization in alphabetical order, from mid-level prospect Niclas Almari to top-six winger Jason Zucker.

Sam Lafferty

Position: Right winger

Shoots: Right

Age: 26

Height: 6-foot-1

Weight: 195 pounds

2020-21 NHL statistics: 34 games, six points (zero goals, six assists)

Contract: First year of a two-year contract with a salary cap hit of $750,000. Pending unrestricted free agent in 2022.

Acquired: Fourth-round draft pick (No. 113 overall), June 28, 2014

2020-21 season: Sam Lafferty already had a place in Penguins history as one of the relatively few natives of Western Pennsylvania to suit up for the franchise.

The Hollidaysburg native added to his list of benchmarks fairly early into the 2020-21 campaign when he became the franchise’s first player to be assigned from the NHL roster to the temporary taxi squad on Jan. 19.

Unlike a lot of the paper transactions the Penguins undertook with the taxi squad for the benefit of the salary cap, this one was almost exclusively based on performance.

Lafferty just wasn’t very good.

After logging 10:55 of ice time in the season opener on Jan. 13, Lafferty saw his ice time drop dramatically by the second game (6:36) then the third game (3:08). And before the season as even a week old, he was sent to the taxi squad.

Once recalled to the NHL roster on Jan. 28, he never left but he was hardly a regular presence in the NHL lineup.

Despite being part of roster that was pockmarked by injuries, particularly to the forward ranks in the latter half of the season, Lafferty was a healthy scratch for 18 of the 52 games he was eligible to play in this past regular season.

On the occasions he was in the lineup, there was little he offered in the way of being an offensive threat. In fact, no forward in the NHL played in more games last season without scoring a goal than Lafferty.

The one thing Lafferty did do was hit. And often.

Despite being such an infrequent part of the lineup, he was fourth on the team with 89 hits.

Arguably, his most prominent highlight of the season — among a limited field of candidates, admittedly — was when he chopped down 6-foot-9, 250-pound Washington Capitals defenseman Zdeno Chara during a 3-1 home loss on Feb. 16.

By the time the postseason opened, most of the Penguins’ forwards were healthy and as a result, Lafferty was a healthy scratch for all six games of his team’s first-round loss to the New York Islanders.

The future: The 2021-22 season will be vital for Lafferty on a personal level. He is scheduled to be an unrestricted free agent for the first time in his career and he’ll need to bounce back from a rather mundane — to be kind — season to get any kind of contract that doesn’t involve a two-way designation.

Additionally, don’t expect the Penguins to protect him in next month’s expasion draft and don’t expect the Seattle Kraken to select him.

Lafferty, who can line up at center as well, has the one base component required to be in the NHL and that’s his speed. And it’s not just speed from one end of the ice to the other. He can move in quick bursts in tight areas while reacting to plays.

And he’s certainly not afraid to throw his body around. That’s an attribute that became more popular with this organization ever since executives Brian Burke and Ron Hextall came on board in February.

But he needs to develop a greater offensive component to his game. Granted, that’s difficult to do in a role primarily limited to fourth-line duties. But he’s shown he can chip in the occasional bit of offense as evidenced by the 13 points (six goals, seven assists) he put up in 50 games as a rookie in 2019-20.

A little bit of offense can go a long way for Lafferty in 2021-22.

Follow the Penguins all season long.