Sam Lafferty returns to the Chicago Blackhawks — for a 3rd time — as free agency opens
He has a season left on his two-year contract with a $2 million cap hit.
Lafferty, 30, is a depth forward who became something of a discovery when the Hawks acquired him from the Pittsburgh Penguins in January 2022 for Alex Nylander. The next season, Lafferty put up 10 goals and 11 assists in 51 games for the Hawks, and served as a penalty killer, drawing interest in the trade market.
The 6-foot-2 forward became a key chess piece in the Hawks' rebuild when they traded him to the Toronto Maple Leafs in February 2023.
As part of the deal that sent Lafferty, defenseman Jake McCabe and conditional fifth-round picks in 2024 and 2025 to Toronto, the Hawks acquired a 2025 conditional first-round pick that they used on Vaclav Nestrasil in Friday's first round.
The Leafs traded Lafferty to the Vancouver Canucks for a fifth-rounder in October 2023.
Then the Canucks traded him — along with forward Ilya Mikheyev and a 2027 second-rounder — to Hawks for a 2027 fourth-rounder in June 2024, but Lafferty signed with the Sabres when he became an unrestricted free agent.
Last season, Lafferty produced four goals and three assists in 60 games with the Sabres.
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Associated Press
6 hours ago
- Associated Press
Jonathan Toews is grateful and excited to play again after signing with his hometown Winnipeg Jets
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USA Today
9 hours ago
- USA Today
Former Iowa football great named one of greatest NFL draft picks ever
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New York Times
10 hours ago
- New York Times
NBA free agency 2025 tracker, live updates: Latest on Jonathan Kuminga; multi-team deal being discussed
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The 24-year-old wing played for Phoenix on a two-way contract as a rookie. John Hefti / Imagn The Mavericks are bringing back Dante Exum on a one-year minimum contract, a source with knowledge of the negotiations confirmed to The Athletic. The 29-year-old Exum gives the Mavericks another trusted ballhandler. He only played 20 games last season due to right wrist and left hand injuries. When Exum was healthy, it was clear Mavericks coach Jason Kidd could on him. Exum averaged 8.7 points and 2.8 assists in 18.6 minutes per game. In the opening hours of free agency, Dallas agreed to sign D'Angelo Russell using the taxpayer midlevel exception. With Kyrie Irving on the mend from left knee surgery, Russell slides into the starting lineup, while Exum is a leading candidate to get the backup point guard minutes. Signing Exum means the Mavericks will have 16 players on standard contracts. That's fine for now, but they'll need to shed a player before the regular season starts. 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Brown's willingness to collaborate and the leadership qualities the franchise examined were also big selling points, league sources said. New York, led by stars Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns, liked that Brown has worked with LeBron James, Kobe Bryant and Steph Curry. The Knicks liked that Brown came up under Gregg Popovich, worked alongside Steve Kerr and won championships with both. New York was impressed at how Brown turned the Sacramento Kings around and helped them win 45-plus games in back-to-back seasons for the first time in the lowly franchise's history since 2006. Before he was fired by Sacramento after 31 games last season, Brown helped turn De'Aaron Fox into an All-Star. In 2022-23, Brown and the Kings had the best offensive efficiency since tracking began in 1996. Now, Brown is tasked with pushing the Knicks to the next level, into a tier of champions. Read my column on the impending hire here. GO FURTHER Mike Brown has faced pressure before, but this time might be different. Welcome to the Knicks Jerome Miron / Imagn Images The Hornets are adding Spencer Dinwiddie on a one-year deal, a league source tells our Christian Clark. That tells you a couple things about Charlotte: First, that the Hornets don't really view Collin Sexton as a point guard off the bench, and second, that a few guys on the fringes a year ago are probably not long for this roster. Josh Okogie has a non-guaranteed deal for $7.5 million; with the Hornets already having 15 guaranteed contracts plus the non-guaranteed deal of energizer Moussa Diabate and a likely roster deal for second-rounder Ryan Kalkbrenner, he would seem to be an easy choice to move on from. 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He cares about stops and doesn't like defensive gamblers. He was hard on the group in Sacramento after a slow start last season. But he's also got some differences from the former Knicks coach schematically. With the Kings, Brown's teams played at a super pace. He'll play smalls together. He'll play around with lineups. The Knicks have made sure the pressure is on, clearly stating their goal is to win a title. And they believe Brown, to whom they've offered their head coaching job, is the guy to take them there. Michael Owens / Getty Images The mathematics for completing a potential LeBron James trade in northern California are not nearly as strenuous as other potential spots. James is close with two-time MVP Stephen Curry, with whom he finally played last summer, when the couple paired up at the Olympics. He and former Defensive Player of the Year Draymond Green share an agent. He played for head coach Steve Kerr with Team USA. And the Warriors have the lure of … well, the Warriors. Golden State has one obvious offer for James: Jimmy Butler for the quadragenarian. Butler makes a tad more than James does, marking the trade legal, though if it were constructed this way, it would hard cap the Lakers at the first apron, since they'd be absorbing more money than they send out in a deal. If the Lakers were fine with that, they could execute the one-for-one trade. However, they may want to maintain flexibility, which they could do somewhat easily. Golden State and Los Angeles could find a third team willing to take on one of the Lakers' minimum salaries (say, Jordan Goodwin's) without giving any salary back. This way, the total money leaving the purple and gold is above Butler's incoming salary. Beyond Butler, Golden State wouldn't have many options in a trade for James. Read more here. GO FURTHER LeBron James trade fits: Cavs, Warriors, Mavericks and more possibilities Jeff Gross / Getty Images Once he finalizes an agreement with the Knicks, Mike Brown will look to take over a franchise that has made it clear a championship is the expectation, providing pressure for a head coach who has experience in those situations, having coached both LeBron James and Kobe Bryant. Brown was the coach of the 2006-07 Cavaliers team that lost in the NBA Finals. With LeBron James by his side, Brown and Cleveland never lost more than 45 games during the regular season. Brown had one successful season in Los Angeles before getting fired five games into his second season. He then returned to the Cavaliers in 2013-14 to be the head coach but was let go after just one year. Brown spent time on Steve Kerr's staff with the Golden State Warriors in between his final stop in Cleveland and becoming the head coach in Sacramento. Brown played a big part in bringing the Kings back to relevancy, as the franchise posted back-to-back 45-plus-win seasons under his watch for the first time since 2005. Sacramento ended a 16-year playoff drought in Brown's first season. Page 2
