Saturday: Bogosian has cleared waivers as expected, reports Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic which will pave the way for his release. TSN’s Darren Dreger suggests that Toronto, Carolina, Winnipeg, and Pittsburgh will be among those interested in him as a free agent.
Friday, 10:55am: The Sabres have confirmed the placement of Bogosian on unconditional waivers, and their intention on terminating his contract.
9:45am: After failing to report to the Rochester Americans earlier this month, Zach Bogosian was suspended without pay by the Buffalo Sabres. That took him off the books in regards to the team’s cap, but still didn’t solve anything for the player. According to Darren Dreger of TSN, Bogosian will now be placed on unconditional waivers for the purpose of a contract termination. While that will void the remaining money on his current contract, it does make Bogosian an unrestricted free agent and able to sign with another team.
The timing of this is important, as Bogosian would need a new contract filed with the league before the trade deadline in order to be eligible for the playoffs. It’s hard to know exactly who might be interested, though Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic tweets that he wouldn’t be surprised if the Toronto Maple Leafs “at least checked in.”
The 29-year old Bogosian became a regular healthy scratch for the Sabres this season after a career marred by injury. Selected third overall in 2008 he has only played more than 71 games in a season on one occasion, and has just 194 points in 636 games. The 6’3″ defenseman currently carries a $5.14MM cap hit that will be terminated tomorrow, should the process go smoothly.