Lawrence Pilut (born 30 December 1995) is a Swedish professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

defenceman Defence or defense (in American English) in ice hockey is a player position that is primarily responsible for preventing the opposing team from Goal (ice hockey), scoring. They are often referred to as defencemen, D, D-men or blueliners (the l ...

for

Lausanne HC Lausanne Hockey Club is an ice hockey team based in the city of Lausanne, Switzerland, which competes in the National League (NL). During the 2004–05 NHL lockout, the HC Lausanne signed National Hockey League players Martin St. Louis and Andy Ro ...

of the

National League National League often refers to: *National League (baseball), one of the two baseball leagues constituting Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada *National League (division), the fifth division of the English football (soccer) system ...

(NL). An undrafted player, Pilut played in Sweden with

HV71 HV71 (), often referred to as just HV, is a Swedish professional ice hockey club based in Jönköping, playing in the Swedish Hockey League (SHL), the first tier of Swedish ice hockey. The team played in the 2008–09 Champions Hockey League ...

, with who he won the SHL championship in

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

. The following season Pilut won the SHL Defenseman of the year and the Swedish Defenseman of the Year (Salming Trophy), which earned a move to North America where he played briefly in the NHL with the

Buffalo Sabres The Buffalo Sabres are a professional ice hockey team based in Buffalo, New York. The Sabres compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NHL), Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL), Eastern Con ...

. He has also played with

Traktor Chelyabinsk Traktor Chelyabinsk, also known as Traktor, or HC Traktor Chelyabinsk, () is a professional ice hockey club based in Chelyabinsk, Russia. It is a member of the Kharlamov Division in the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). From 1967 to 2009, the te ...

of the KHL.

Playing career

Pilut began playing hockey as a youth in his hometown of Tingsryd and played at the under-18 level with

Tingsryds AIF Tingsryds Allmänna Idrottsförening, commonly known as Tingsryds AIF, (sometimes abbreviated TAIF) is an ice hockey club based in Tingsryd, Sweden. The club is playing in HockeyAllsvenskan HockeyAllsvenskan (previously Allsvenskan and SuperAlls ...

before transferring to HV71. Pilut made his

Swedish Hockey League The Swedish Hockey League (SHL; ) is a professional ice hockey league in Sweden and the highest level of the ice hockey in Sweden, Swedish ice hockey system. The league currently consists of 14 teams. The league was founded in 1975, and while Li ...

(SHL) debut playing with

during the 2013–14 season. Pilut continued in the SHL with HV71 and in the 2017–18 season, he elevated his development to have a dominant season in contributing with eight goals and 38 points in 52 games to be selected as the league's Defenceman of the Year. In gaining NHL interest from his breakout season, Pilut left the SHL and signed as an

undrafted free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

to a two-year, entry-level contract with the

on 15 May 2018. Pilut made his NHL debut on 30 November 2018, in a game against the

Florida Panthers The Florida Panthers are a professional ice hockey team based in the Miami metropolitan area. The Panthers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference. The team initially played it ...

. On 8 January 2019, Pilut scored his first career NHL goal in a 5–1 win over the

New Jersey Devils The New Jersey Devils are a professional ice hockey team based in Newark, New Jersey. The Devils compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL), Eastern Conference. The club w ...

. Pilut became a restricted free agent following the 2019–20 season. On 9 June 2020, he signed a two-year contract with

of the

Kontinental Hockey League The Kontinental Hockey League (KHL; ) is an international professional ice hockey league founded in 2008. It comprises member clubs based in Russia (20), Belarus (1), Kazakhstan (1), and China (1) for a total of 23 clubs. It was considered in ...

(KHL). After two successful seasons in the KHL with Chelyabinsk, Pilut returned to North America and the Sabres organization in agreeing to a one-year, two-way contract on 15 July 2022. On 6 June 2023, he signed a two-year contract with

of the

(NL).

Personal life

Pilut's father, Larry Pilut, is from the United States but spent most of his playing career in Sweden, including 14 seasons with

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

Awards and honors

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pilut, Lawrence 1995 births Living people Buffalo Sabres players HV71 players Lausanne HC players Rochester Americans players Swedish ice hockey defencemen 21st-century Swedish sportsmen Swedish people of American descent Timrå IK players Traktor Chelyabinsk players Undrafted National Hockey League players People from Tingsryd Municipality Ice hockey people from Kronoberg County