Vernon hockey product ‘caught off guard’ by deadline deal

Vernon hockey product Curtis Lazar is joining his fourth NHL team.

Lazar and Taylor Hall were traded by the Buffalo Sabres to the Boston Bruins on Sunday night, the eve of the NHL’s trade deadline.

The Sabres got forward Anders Bjork and a 2021 second-round draft pick in return.

“It completely caught me off guard. I got the phone call last night about 11 p.m. and when you see the GM’s name pop up the day before the deadline, you kind of know what’s going to happen,” Lazar said Monday on a video call with Boston media, according to an article in The Buffalo News. “So my first thought was, where am I going? My wife and I actually had our first kid a week ago. So a lot of moving parts right there, but I couldn’t be happier with Boston.

“Obviously, they see something in me that they liked to include me in that deal. And I’m ready to prove it and show it. I kind of hit my stride in Buffalo and I want to go off what I learned there and continue that with the Bruins,” Lazar added.

F Curtis Lazar will wear jersey number 20 for the Boston Bruins. Number last worn by Joakim Nordstrom in 2019-20. #NHLBruins pic.twitter.com/O8ObdWcEiV

— NHL Jersey Numbers (@NHLNewNumbers) April 12, 2021

Lazar, 26, has scored five goals with four assists for nine points in 33 games this season with Buffalo. The 6-foot, 193-pound forward has appeared in 317 career NHL games with Buffalo, Calgary and Ottawa, totaling 25 goals and 45 assists for 70 points. The Salmon Arm, B.C. native was originally selected by Ottawa in the first round (17th overall) of the 2013 NHL Entry Draft.

Lazar, a former Memorial Cup champion with the Edmonton Oil Kings and gold medal winner with Team Canada’s world junior team, was born in Salmon Arm, and grew up in Vernon.

He will wear jersey number 20 with the Bruins.