12:47 p.m.: The Sabres have confirmed the two-year extension for Zucker. He’ll make $9.5MM in total, which is good for a $4.75MM AAV in each year of the contract.
9:53 a.m.: Believed to be a strong trade candidate as a pending unrestricted free agent, the Sabres were looking to get Jason Zucker off the market entirely. They’ve accomplished just that as TSN’s Darren Dreger reports (Twitter link) that the sides are in agreement on a two-year, $9.75MM contract extension.
The 33-year-old had to settle for a one-year contract last season, spending time between Arizona and Nashville, who acquired him in a low-cost trade deadline rental move. However, he was only able to notch 14 goals and 18 assists in 69 games between the two sides which was certainly not a good for his open market value. Accordingly, Zucker ultimately accepted another one-year pact in July, signing for $5MM.
That has worked out well for both sides. While Buffalo has struggled and is set to miss the playoffs once again this year, Zucker has bounced back nicely. Through 54 games this season, he has 18 goals and 26 assists, giving him a realistic shot at a 50-point campaign, a plateau he has only reached once in his career. With the 44 points he has now, he sits fifth on the Sabres in scoring.
Zucker made it known back in January that he was interested in extending his stay with Buffalo and he was true to his word. Even with a big jump in the salary cap coming, he winds up taking a small pay cut with the AAV of this new deal checking in at $4.75MM. If he had a good finish to his season – in Buffalo or elsewhere – it’s possible that he could have landed at least a small raise on the open market while also potentially getting a multi-year deal. Instead, he opts for some stability with where he’s comfortable.
While the Sabres now won’t be getting anything for what was likely to be one of their better trade chips, there’s certainly value in keeping Zucker around. All rebuilding teams need quality veterans and Zucker certainly has been one of them and he’ll now fill a spot in their top six for a couple more years.
With the signing, Buffalo now has a little under $24MM in cap room for next season, per PuckPedia with 15 players under contract. While they have a prominent pending RFA to contend with in Bowen Byram, the Sabres should still have ample cap space to try to add another quality veteran or two to their roster this summer.
Photo courtesy of Imagn Images.
Kevyn Adams is clearly smoking the drapes.
Zuck finally gets to stay somewhere for awhile. Good for him.
Zucker staying is a GOOD THING. Anyone who doesn’t believe that really doesn’t know hockey. Sabres need good veteran presence on one of the youngest teams in the NHL! They need a couple more, preferably on the blue line to help balance out the maturity level.
You lost me at “doesn’t know hockey”. Anyone that says that is an idiot. Everyone has different options. Zucker is older and for me this is dumb from his end. He’s taking less money to be in a place that isn’t going to win in the near future.
How is it dumb on his end???? Staying in one spot longer than a year is worth more after bouncing around year after year. You either must be single or never had to endure the moving around a lot. Family stability at his age starts taking more of a priority. And anyone that doesn’t know that YOUNG teams need a good veteran presence CLEARLY doesn’t know hockey! Sabres are young across the board still with Dahlin and Tage being the vets and they still need aging in their game. With how bad the higher ups have been for the sabres this makes more sense than the greenway signing.
Zucker is divorced and his two kids live in Minnesota with their mother. So there goes your family argument.