The Sabres have locked up one of their remaining restricted free agents, announcing the re-signing of center Johan Larsson to a two year contract. The deal will carry a cap hit of $1.475MM.
Larsson was originally a second round pick of the Wild (56th overall) in 2010 but has spent the majority of his career with Buffalo after being traded there in April of 2013. This past season, he played in 36 games with the Sabres, collecting 11 points (6-5-11) along with 20 penalty minutes. He did, however, miss the final 46 games of the year due to a wrist injury sustained in late December.
The 24 year old has played in 178 career NHL games, 177 with Buffalo and one with Minnesota. He has 22 goals and 26 assists thus far. Larsson will likely slot in their bottom six behind top centers Ryan O’Reilly and Jack Eichel.
Buffalo GM Jason Botterill still has four more players that have filed for arbitration to re-sign, defenseman Nathan Beaulieu, goaltender Robin Lehner, and forwards Evan Rodrigues plus Zemgus Girgensons. They have plenty of cap space to work with as they currently sit nearly $15MM below the salary cap per CapFriendly.