Buffalo Sabres general manager Kevyn Adams and owner Terry Pegula look on during their development camp at LECOM Harborcenter on Monday, June 30, 2025.
Joed Viera/Buffalo News
The NHL’s free agent signing period opened at noon Tuesday, and The Buffalo News is keeping track of the Sabres’ free agent signings and trades, as well as notable free agent signings across the NHL.Â
The Sabres free agent signings
Previous team: Detroit Red Wings
Height/weight: 6-1, 196 pounds
Notes: Lyon was 14-9-1 with the Red Wings in 2024-25, with a saves percentage of .896 and a goals-against average of 2.81. He’ll provide the Sabres with a proven veteran presence next to Ukko Pekka-Luukkonen. He signs a two-year deal with an average annual value (AAV) of $1.5 million.
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Previous team: Sabres/Rochester, AHL
Height/weight: 6-foot-1, 195
Notes: The Sabres re-signed Johnson to a three-year contract with an AAV of $775,000. Johnson has played 44 games in two seasons with the Sabres (seven assists), and has two goals and 20 assists in 93 AHL games.
Previous team: Rochester, AHL
Height/weight: 5-foot-10, 177.
Notes: Rathbone enters his sixth professional season and scored six goals and had 17 assists with the Amerks in 2024-25. Rathbone is on a two-year, two-way contract that pays $800,000 in the NHL and $500,000 in the AHL.Â
Previous team: Henderson, American Hockey League
Height/weight: 6-foot-4, 231.
Notes: The Sabres signed Geertsen to a two-year deal, but expect him to head to Rochester. He’s played 89 games over the last two seasons with Henderson, Vegas’ farm team, and his only NHL experience was 25 games with the New Jersey Devils in 2021-22. Still, he led Henderson with 108 penalty minutes in 58 games in 2023-24.
Previous team: University of North Dakota, Western Michigan University
Height/weight: 6-foot, 195.
Notes: Rochester signed Costantini, a former Buffalo Junior Sabres product, to a two-way contract in the AHL. Drafted by the Sabres in the fifth round in 2020, Costantini scored eight goals and 15 assists last season and helped Western Michigan win the NCAA championship in April.Â
Previous team: Columbus Blue Jackets
Height/weight: 5-foot-8, 188.
Notes: Danforth heads to the Sabres after four seasons in Columbus’ system. The right wing has scored 19 goals in the last two seasons, and is on the smaller side but should primarily be a fourth-line player. Danforth spent parts of the 2016-17 and 2017-18 seasons in the Sabres’ farm system.
Previous team: Rochester, American Hockey League
Height/weight: 5-foot-11, 185.
Notes: Kozak split 2024-25 between Rochester and the Sabres, scoring eight goals with six assists in 21 games with Buffalo. He’s signed to the Sabres on a three-year contract with an AAV of $775,000.
Height/weight: 6-foot-3, 188.
Notes: McLeod scored a career-best 20 goals with 33 assists and 53 points last season and primarily was the Sabres’ second- or third-line center. Acquired last summer from Edmonton in a trade for Matthew Savoie, McLeod was also part of the Oilers’ run to the 2024 Stanley Cup Final.
Previous team: San Diego Gulls, AHL
Height/weight: 5-foot-11, 193.
Notes: Meyer previously played in Columbus and Anaheim’s farm systems, most recently with the Gulls, where he scored nine goals with 12 assists in 29 games last season. He’s played in 41 games from 2021-24 with the Blue Jackets, scoring two goals with four assists. He signs a two-year, two-way contract for $775,000 AAV.
Previous team: Rochester, AHL
Height/weight: 5-foot-9, 195.
Notes: Metsa has spent the last two seasons with the Amerks, and scored seven goals with 39 assists and was a plus-15 in 2024-25. He signs a two-year, two-way contract for $775,000 AAV.
Previous team: New York Rangers
Height/weight: 5-foot-11, 190
Notes: Jones scored one goal and 10 assists in 41 games with the Rangers, and was mostly a sixth or seventh defenseman. He signs a one-year, two-way contract for $775,000 AAV.
Previous team: Rochester, AHL
Height/weight: 5-foot-11, 202.
Notes: The Sabres signed Fiddler-Schultz to a two-year, entry-level contract. He scored 13 goals with 13 assists last season with the Amerks, and enters his third professional year.Â
Who’s leaving the Sabres?Â
Heading to: Detroit Red Wings
Notes: A day after the Sabres did not extend a qualifying offer to Bernard-Docker, he signs as a free agent with the Red Wings on a one-year deal with an AAV of $875,000. He originally joined the Sabres as part of a deal with the Ottawa Senators, and scored two goals with six assists and was a plus-5 in 40 games last season.
Notable NHL signings
Mitch Marner will head to Las Vegas. The Maple Leafs traded Marner, a 102-point scorer this year, to the Vegas Golden Knights for forward Nicolas Roy, and Marner signed an eight-year, $12-million-a-year contract.
The “wow” factor: Definitely a “wow,” given that Marner didn’t test free agency. However, he wanted to go to a winner, and Vegas is a tested winner.
Patrick Kane will stay with the Detroit Red Wings for at least another year. The South Buffalo native and three-time Stanley Cup champion would have become an unrestricted free agent on Tuesday but signed a one-year-deal with Detroit, a $3 million cap hit.Â
The “wow” factor: This shouldn’t be a surprise. Kane said in April that he remained “optimistic” about the Red Wings.Â
The Florida Panthers are breaking the bank in pursuit of winning a third consecutive Stanley Cup, having re-signed Sam Bennett (eight years, $64 million), Aaron Ekblad (eight years, $48.8 million) and Brad Marchand (six years, $31.5 million a year) to long-term deals.Â
The “wow” factor:Â It’s a “wow” but not a shock, because a history of winning championships is a heavy bargaining chip. The Panthers are investing to become the first team to win three consecutive Stanley Cups since the New York Islanders, who won four from 1980-83, and have at least 10 players signed through 2030.
The Boston Bruins — another Atlantic Division foe — acquired left wing Viktor Arvidsson from Edmonton for a 2027 fifth-round draft pick. Arvidsson joined the Oilers a year ago as a free agent. Arvidsson, a 12-year NHLer, scored 15 goals and 12 assists in 67 games last season.
The “wow” factor: There’s no “wow” on this one — Arvidsson, 32, isn’t as productive as he has been in the earlier years of his career, including three 30-goal seasons, and this was a salary-cap move by the Oilers, who shed Arvidsson’s $4 million cap hit, per Puckpedia.com.
Brock Boeser has agreed to what is likely the biggest undrafted free agent contract today: The forward starts his 10th NHL season by re-upping with Vancouver for $50.75 million over seven years.
The “wow” factor: The Canucks backed up the Brinks truck to keep Boeser, who has averaged 20 goals in the last eight seasons, including a career-high 40 in 2023-24. It clearly wasn’t for Boeser’s defense — he was a minus-25 last season.
Corey Perry just keeps on ticking, and heads to the Los Angeles Kings on a one-year contract. Perry, 40, approaches his 21st NHL season and is one of the league’s elder statesmen, and scored 19 goals last season in 81 games with Edmonton.
The “wow” factor: Perry has played at least 81 games in three of the last four seasons, and the signing might spark the Kings to another Stanley Cup Final, on the pattern alone. Perry has played for the Stanley Cup runner-up in five of the last six seasons (2020-22, 2024-25), including the last two seasons with the Oilers.Â
Tanner Jeannot joins the Bruins on a five-year deal with a $3.4M AAV. The left wing, is, at best, an underachiever in recent seasons.Â
The “wow” factor: As in, “wow, the Bruins got stiffed with this signing.” The Bruins are likely betting on potential. Jeannot hasn’t scored more than 14 points in any of the last three seasons and is a minus-17 in that stretch.Â
Remember Michael Pezzetta, who graced the KeyBank Center ice with one of the more audacious shootout celebrations in March 2023? The left wing stays in the Atlantic Division and joins the Maple Leafs on a two-year deal with a $787,000 AAV.
The “wow” factor: Aside from going viral, there isn’t much of a “wow,” but Pezzetta is a grinder, and those have value on the lower lines. Pezzetta enters his fifth NHL season but has yet to play a full season, and hasn’t registered a point in a game since April 2, 2024. He can hit, though, averaging 177.5 hits per season, including 77 in 25 games last season.
St. Joe’s graduate Dennis Gilbert, who played 25 games last season with the Sabres and four with Ottawa, signs with Philadelphia on a one-year deal.
The “wow” factor: Gilbert enters his eighth professional season and the defenseman hasn’t been able to stick with an NHL team for more than 34 games a season. But Gilbert is a local, so, “wow,” it’s worth watching a Western New Yorker continue his pro career.Â
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