The Buffalo Sabres have re-signed forward Zemgus Girgensons to a new contract. The deal is for three seasons and carries an annual average value of $2.2 million. Free agency begins Friday but Buffalo wanted to lock up one of its bottom-six before it began. Darren Dreger announced the news late Thursday night.
Zemgus Girgensons contract with the Sabres is 3 years with a $2.2 million aav.
— Darren Dreger (@DarrenDreger) October 9, 2020
Sabres Re-Sign Zemgus Girgensons
Girgensons turned in another reasonable campaign in 2019-20 given Buffalo’s overall offensive struggles. The 26-year-old scored 12 goals and 19 points in 69 games. The 12 goals are the second-most in Girgensons’ career behind a 15-goal campaign in 2014-15. He still isn’t a great possession forward with a 48.8 percent Corsi For. He is however a perfectly fine bottom-six skater. There might be slightly more offensive potential. The Sabres need to increase his minutes closer to what they were earlier in his career.
The Sabres originally selected Girgensons in the first round of the 2012 Draft. He debuted in 2013-14 with eight goals and 22 points in 70 games. Overall, the 14th overall selection has 61 goals and 138 points in 489 games along with 921 hits. He has underperformed what might have been expected of a lottery selection but there is acceptable two-way ability. At the very least, he is the most successful player to come out of Latvia to this point. That alone is interesting for certain fans.
What This Means for the Future
Girgensons has been nothing but consistent for Buffalo. He probably won’t reclaim the production of his first two seasons. But, he has been a reliable 15-plus point option over seven seasons. His cap hit went from $1.6 million to $2.2 million. That isn’t a significant enough increase to cause the team financial distress.
Buffalo still has $30 million in cap space to retain several pending free agents. Linus Ullmark is probably the most significant player in that category. There are others necessary for depth. The Sabres are in a poor spot in relation to the rest of the league. They do however, hold a large amount of available money which could be huge in an offseason where many teams are struggling with finances.
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