The Sabres have made their bet on Noah Ostlund, locking up the 22-year-old forward on an eight-year extension worth an average annual value of $6.6 million.
The deal runs through the 2034-35 season and will begin in 2027-28, carrying a 5.81% cap hit on Buffalo’s books. By the end of the contract, Ostlund will be 31 years old and set to become an unrestricted free agent, with $52.8 million added to his total earnings. The agreement also includes a seven-team no-trade list that kicks in in 2030 and remains in place for the rest of the deal.
Ostlund spent most of last season in a bottom-six role and is expected to stay there this year. In his rookie campaign in 2025-26, he put up 27 points in 60 games, and that production stood out as one of Buffalo’s most cost-effective seasons.
Only Josh Doan, at $18K per point, and Zach Benson, at $22K per point, were more efficient on the roster. Ostlund’s own $886K cap hit translated to a $33K cost per point.
He also gave Buffalo a small but productive burst in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, collecting a goal and an assist in just three games. That tiny NHL sample had him looking like a bridge-contract candidate if his game took another step this season, but the Sabres moved to secure the longest term they could before the Sept. 15 deadline, when a new CBA takes effect and teams can no longer sign players to deals longer than seven years.
The timing matters because Ostlund is still on the final year of the entry-level contract he signed in July 2022. Without this extension, he would have been on track to become an RFA at age 23 after the 2026-27 season.
His path to this point has included another start in Rochester with the Americans, Buffalo’s AHL affiliate, where he scored 10 points in seven games during another round of movement between the minors and the NHL. That stretch earned him an extended look with the Sabres, and his engaged style helped Buffalo even though he logged just 12 minutes of even-strength ice time this past year.
Before that, Ostlund appeared in eight NHL games in 2024-25, spending most of the season in Rochester, where he scored 36 points in 45 games.
Buffalo drafted Ostlund 16th overall in the 2022 NHL Draft, and the team is clearly treating him as part of the long-term plan. He joins a group of 10 Sabres signed through at least 2029-30: forwards Joshua Norris, Benson, Tage Thompson, Josh Doan, Peyton Krebs, and Beck Malenstyn, and defensemen Rasmus Dahlin, Owen Power, and Mattias Samuelsson.
In Other News...
Jiri Kulich Now Faces A Huge Sabres Question At Center
Jiri Kulich has been back on the ice, and for the Sabres that alone is an encouraging development after a long stretch without him in an NHL game. The young forward has been skating and training again, and the early word around him has been positive from both Radim Mrtka and head coach Lindy Ruff, which gives Buffalo a little more reason to keep an eye on him heading into camp.
The bigger issue now is where Kulich fits in a roster that still needs answers down the middle. Buffalos struggles at the faceoff dot last season made center a glaring area of concern, and Kulich is expected to get a real look for a top-line job when training camp opens. He will have to show he can handle that responsibility quickly, because the Sabres need more than just health here - they need a center who can help stabilize a key weakness. [Read more 🡒]
Sabres Just Made Their Belief In Noah Ostlund Impossible To Miss
Noah Ostlunds rise from a 2022 first-round pick to a player Buffalo wants locked into its future has been quick and unmistakable. After two seasons in Sweden, the forward came over to Rochester and then made enough of an impression in his rookie NHL season that the Sabres moved to secure him as part of their long-term plans.
The extension gives Buffalo another young piece to build around, and it also keeps Ostlund in the same conversation as the clubs other core names already under contract deep into the decade. For a team trying to stabilize its direction, the message here is clear: the Sabres are betting big that Ostlunds early promise is only the start. [Read more 🡒]
Logan Stanley Still Looms Over A Sabres Depth Question
Several familiar names from Buffalos recent orbit are still looking for their next NHL stop this summer. Carson Soucy is on a professional tryout with Columbus, Nick Blankenburg has landed one with Toronto, and veteran goalie James Reimer remains unsigned after helping Ottawa last season. It is the kind of offseason churn that usually settles into training camp depth battles, but it also keeps a spotlight on players who once seemed closer to firm roster answers.
Logan Stanley remains one of the more interesting cases for the Sabres to track because his situation still has a little extra weight attached to it. The defenseman was brought in from Winnipeg at last years trade deadline in a deal that sent Isak Rosen, Jacob Bryson and two draft picks the other way, and he has yet to lock down his next NHL contract. For now, he is skating with his former junior team, leaving Buffalo with one more unresolved blue-line question as camp approaches. [Read more 🡒]