Lawrence Pilut

Lawrence Pilut (born on December 30, 1995 in Tingsryd, Sweden) is a Swedish-American professional ice hockey defenceman currently playing with the Traktor Chelyabinsk of the KHL.

Club career
Pilut began playing junior hockey with the Tingsryds AIF organisation before transferring to the HV71 organisation in 2011. Pilut made his senior debut playing 22 regular season games and 6 play-off games with the HV71 of the SHL during the 2013-14 season. In this season, he also played 30 regular season games and 4 play-off games with the HV71 under-20 team.

The 2014-15 season was his last junior season. He played 2 games with the HV71 junior team, 48 regular season games and 4 play-off games with the HV71 of the SHL and 4 games on loan with the Timrå IK of the HockeyAllsvenskan.

Pilut continued in the SHL with the HV71 and in 2017, he won the SHL with the HV71. In the 2017-18 season, he elevated his development to have a dominant season in contributing with 8 goals and 38 points in 52 regular season games and 0 points in 2 play-off games to win the Salming Trophy for the SHL's best defenceman of the year. His 30 assists and 38 points were the highest numbers of assists and points by defenceman in the SHL.

In gaining NHL interest from his breakout season, Pilut left the SHL and signed as an undrafted free agent to a two-year, entry-level contract with the Buffalo Sabres organisation on May 15, 2018. Pilut made his NHL debut on November 30, 2018, in a game against the Florida Panthers. On January 8, 2019, Pilut scored his first career NHL goal in a 5-1 win over the New Jersey Devils. During the 2018-19 season, Pilut played 33 games with the Buffalo Sabres of the NHL and 30 regular season games and 3 play-off games with the Rochester Americans of the AHL.

In the 2019-20 season, Pilut played 13 games with the Buffalo Sabres of the NHL and 37 games with the Rochester Americans of the AHL. In both North American seasons, he participated at the AHL All-Star Game.

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

International career
Pilut played with the Swedish National Team at the 2012 World U17 Hockey Challenge.

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