Zach Bogosian’s time as an unrestricted free agent was short-lived. The Lightning announced that they’ve signed him to a one-year deal worth a pro-rated $1.3MM.
It has been an interesting last week for the 29-year-old. After asking for a trade, the Sabres found no takers and decided to waive him. Due to his $5.143MM AAV, he went unclaimed and was assigned to the AHL. However, he chose not to report and was suspended without pay. Buffalo then played him on unconditional waivers on Friday for the purposes of terminating his contract and once he cleared on Saturday, he became a free agent.
While he struggled with the Sabres both in terms of his on-ice play and staying healthy (he played in just 19 games this season, recording six points while logging a career-low 16:50 per contest), Bogosian should be a good fit with Tampa Bay. Erik Cernak was injured on Saturday while Ryan McDonagh and Jan Rutta are still working their way back from injuries as well. As a result, there’s an immediate need for him to step in and even if he was to fall out of their top six when everyone is healthy, he’d serve as capable injury insurance down the stretch and for what could be a lengthy playoff run.
TSN’s Darren Dreger was the first to report that Bogosian had reached an agreement with Tampa Bay.
His reason for wanting out of Buffalo was nonsense. He wanted to play more. Great. You’ll play more for all of maybe 5-10 games in Tampa and when they start getting healthy again you’ll be their 8th defence and you won’t play another game all season. That’s what we call a logical fallacy.
He was getting healthy scratched in Buffalo. I’m gonna say, even if he does get healthy scratched in Tampa, I’d rather it happen in Tampa then buffalo. He has a legitimate chance of a ring even if he does nothing
He refused to report to Rochester. That probably means he just wanted to sign with a playoff team that way he can sit on the expanded roster come playoff time, collect a pay check and not have to report to the AHL.