Friday: The Sabres have announced the deal, confirming the three-year, $6.6MM terms.
Thursday: While most free agent news has been that impending UFA’s are intending to test the market, at least one player is set to re-sign with his current club before the market opens. Multiple sources, including TSN’s Darren Dreger, report that Zemgus Girgensons is expected to sign a contract extension with the Buffalo Sabres. Dreger expects that it will be a three-year, $6.6MM extension.
Girgensons, 26, is nothing if not consistent. The Latvian native took over a bottom-six role for the Sabres back in 2013-14 and has held tight to it ever since. In seven NHL seasons, Girgensons has played in 69+ games all but once and has always finished with 5-15 goals and 15-30 points. He plays a physical game and provides sound defensive play on a consistent basis.
Dependability like that which Girgensons provides can be hard to find, especially when adding a free agent who has never played with your team. Rather than take that risk, Buffalo has elected to go with a player they know they can trust, even if he might lack upside beyond his current level of production. At just a $2.2MM AAV, the Sabres aren’t spending much to retain a reliable asset who excels in a specific role.
Wasn’t Girgensons a one time All Star?
He was. Now as long as we don’t sign Larsson this is fine. Need more scoring output from the bottom 6. Zemgus with better offensive players can put up more points. But with Larsson and Okposso that just isn’t going to happen