Curtis Lazar

BIOGRAPHY

Curtis Lazar was born February 2, 1995, in Salmon Arm, British Columbia. He is a centre in the NHL.

As captain of the hockey team at Pursuit of Excellence Prep during their 2009–10 season, Lazar scored 57 goals and 115 points in 51 games. At the 2010 John Reid Memorial Tournament, a minor ice hockey event in Western Canada, Lazar recorded nine goals and 15 points in five games, and he was named the tournament's MVP, Top Forward, and an All-Star. For his performance that season, Lazar received the 2010 Hockey Now/BC Hockey Hall of Fame Minor Hockey Player Achievement Award. From there, he spent the 2010–11 season at Okanagan Hockey Academy, with 58 points in 45 under-18 games and nine points in six Canadian Sport School Hockey League games. Lazar also captained Team British Columbia at the 2011 Canada Winter Games. He took the team to a gold medal with 12 goals and 17 points, including back-to-back hat-tricks. His performance in the Games surpassed Steven Stamkos's goals record and Sidney Crosby's points record.

At 19 years old, Lazar was the only teenager named to the Senators' 2014–15 opening-night roster, making his NHL debut on October 9, 2014, for Ottawa's 3–2 loss to the Nashville Predators. His linemates, Mike Hoffman and Mark Stone, were also rookies, and the trio was referred to as the "Kids Line". The Senators had the opportunity to return Lazar to the Oil Kings within 10 games of his debut without burning a year of his entry-level contract, but coach Paul MacLean was impressed by his early performance and chose to retain him beyond that point. He scored his first NHL goal on December 15, but the Senators lost the game 5–4 to the Buffalo Sabres in a shootout. He finished the regular rookie season with six goals and 15 points in 67 games. While the Senators lost their opening-round series in the 2015 Stanley Cup playoffs to the Montreal Canadiens, the third line, in which Lazar played with Jean-Gabriel Pageau and Erik Condra, showed promise for future seasons.

The Buffalo Sabres signed Lazar to a one-year, $700,000 contract on July 1, 2019. He was one of the last cuts that the team made to bring their opening-night roster down to 23 players, and Lazar began the 2019–20 season with the AHL Rochester Americans.

On September 24, 2020, the Sabres signed Lazar to a two-year, $1.6 million contract extension. In the pandemic delayed 2020–21 season, Lazar remained on the Sabres roster, securing a third-line role in posting 5 goals and 9 points through 33 regular season games for the cellar-dwelling Sabres.

Lazar was traded by the Sabres along with Taylor Hall to the Boston Bruins in exchange for Anders Bjork and a 2021 second-round draft pick on April 11, 2021.

On March 3, 2023, the Canucks traded Lazar to the New Jersey Devils in exchange for a fourth-round pick in the 2024 NHL Entry Draft.