Curtis Lazar
#20 / Center/Right Wing
Height: 6’0” | Weight: 193 | Born: February 2, 1995
Birthplace: Salmon Arm, BC | Acquired: Traded to Boston April 2021
Assets: Has excellent two-way ability and a tremendous work rate. Owns plenty of character and usually plays much bigger than his below-average frame suggests. Can score key goals, too. Plays all three forward positions.
Flaws: Needs to become a more consistent point producer in the National Hockey League. Also needs to get stronger in order to play his abrasive style effectively at the highest level. Needs to also improve his setup skills.
Career Potential: Quality, versatile two-way forward with some upside.
(Via TSN)
Why You Should Know Who He Is: When the Bruins rescued Taylor Hall from Buffalo, they also acquired the versatile Lazar in the deal to add some depth to their bottom-six forwards. Lazar has settled into a fourth-line center role with some penalty-killing duties, but has missed some time recently due to injury. If he’s healthy, expect stout defending with a little bit of offensive upside from Lazar.
Oh, and dude once ate a hamburger off of the ice, so there’s that.
How the Caps Can Stop Him: Lazar isn’t particularly physical, and isn’t likely to make a ton of dynamic offensive plays (famous last words), so he could have some difficulty matching up with the Caps third or fourth lines. Given the strength at the top of the Bruins’ lineup, it’s going to be absolutely imperative for the Caps to win match-ups further down the lineup if they’re going to have success in this series, and outscoring Lazar’s fourth line would help to that end.