Fabian Zetterlund Signs Three-Year Extension With Senators

8:41 a.m.: The Senators confirmed Zetterlund has signed a three-year extension as reported.

6:48 a.m.: Senators pending RFA winger Fabian Zetterlund has agreed to a three-year extension with the club, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports. The deal is worth $12.825MM with a cap hit of $4.275MM. He’ll be a UFA upon expiry in 2028. The contract does not include trade protection, per PuckPedia. They were also the first to report that the two sides were nearing an agreement on Wednesday night. Zetterlund’s extension will be paid out entirely in base salary and will earn him $3.8MM in 2025-26, $4.3MM in 2026-27, and $4.725MM in 2027-28.

Zetterlund, 26 in August, was acquired by the Sens from the Sharks quite literally at the trade deadline for a package that included a second-round pick and center prospect Zack Ostapchuk. It was surprising to see San Jose part ways with him. He had looked promising in a top-six role since being acquired from the Devils in the Timo Meier swap a few years ago, posting a 20-goal, 44-point campaign in 2023-24. He was on track to do so again with a 17-19–36 scoring line in 64 games at the time of the trade, but they either valued the offered return from Ottawa higher than Zetterlund’s on-ice value or believed they wouldn’t be able to come to an agreement as he reached free agency.

The tail end of 2024-25 saw Zetterlund struggle to find consistency in Ottawa. He bounced around the lineup upon arrival, logging significant time in top-six usage with Tim Stützle but also seeing some deployment as low as the fourth line with Adam Gaudette and Matthew Highmore. His offensive production underwhelmed, only managing two goals and five points in 20 games in a Sens jersey, averaging 14:18 per game after seeing nearly 17 minutes per game in San Jose.

The bright side? All five of Zetterlund’s points came in his final 12 games as he was bumped up the lineup, and he had four points in six games to end the regular season. He didn’t manage to log a point in their first-round loss to the Maple Leafs, though. He ended the year with a 19-22–41 scoring line in 84 games, landing a few extra appearances thanks to the trade. It was south of the 20-goal mark he was on pace for with his start to the season in the Bay Area, but he still managed to crack 40 points for the second year in a row.

If Zetterlund gets more consistent top-six deployment out of the gate in 2025-26, he should be able to return to his San Jose levels of production and be a valuable top-nine winger for the Sens at that price point. The Swedish forward also had good possession impacts this past season, posting positive relative Corsi shares at even strength with both the Sharks and Senators. He also posted a decent 52.4 xGF% in his even-strength minutes with Ottawa, understandably seeing a spike there from his San Jose numbers on a much more competent two-way club. He’ll aim to turn those figures into more noticeable offensive numbers en route to being a key secondary scorer for the Sens.

The contract comes in a bit north of his three-year, $3.92MM AAV projection from AFP Analytics, but still seems like a reasonable bet based on the offense he’s provided on the whole over the past two years. It does reaffirm their cap crunch, though, and likely turns up the urgency on a money-clearing move a bit with top UFA Claude Giroux still without an extension. The Sens have $10.75MM in space with six roster spots still to fill after Zetterlund’s new contract, according to PuckPedia. With Giroux projected to land north of $5MM on his next deal, that means they’d only have around $5.5MM to allocate to five roster spots to round out the club, limiting them to depth adds only in free agency.

Image courtesy of Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images.