The 2024-25 New Jersey Devils season opens in 42 days (at the time of the writing). On October 4, the Devils face the Buffalo Sabres in Prague, Czechia. To get ready for the season, we're doing a daily piece countdown of all the numbers of the Devils sweaters and moments in Devils franchise history. Since we are 42 days away, we will focus on a veteran who seems to find his best play here in New Jersey, #42 Curtis Lazar.
Curtis Lazar, drafted 17th overall by the Ottawa Senators in the 2013 NHL draft, has had a pretty solid career. Before playing in Ottawa, he won the Memorial Cup with the Edmonton Oil Kings, scoring 22 points in 21 playoff games in the 2013-14 WHL Playoffs. Lazar would spend three seasons in Ottawa from 2014-17, averaging 15+ points. On March 1st, 2017, he was traded to the Calgary Flames, where he was for three seasons. The pandemic ended, and Lazar signed a two-year, $1.6 million contract with the Buffalo Sabers in September 2020.
However, after playing just 33 games in Buffalo and scoring nine points, he was traded along with former Devil Taylor Hall to the Boston Bruins at the trade deadline, where he got just four more points. The following season, Lazar had his highest total in recent years putting up 16 points. After that season ended, Lazar signed a 3-year, $1 million AAV contract with the Vancouver Canucks, where his production declined as he got just five points in 45 games.
On March 3rd, 2023, Lazar got traded once more to the Devils in exchange for a 4th-round draft pick in the 2024 NHL Draft. In Lazar’s first entire season in NJ in the 2023-24 season, thanks mainly to a different system by Ruff, Lazar’s numbers improved to 25 points with seven goals and 18 assists. Lazar’s best goal as a Devil came on November 28, 2023, when he gave the Devils a 5-4 lead with less than 22 seconds against the New York Islanders at home after the Islanders led 4-2 heading into the 3rd period.
One of the main reasons Lazar was always traded from team to team was injuries. While in Vancouver, he suffered a lower-body injury in February 2023. In New Jersey, he's suffered multiple lower-body injuries. Just last season, he suffered two more lower-body injuries in December 2023 and March 2024. For Lazar to have a better season, one of his primary goals should be to stay healthy because a team with so many young guys needs a veteran like Lazar.