Overview
- The Buffalo Sabres agreed to a one-year contract extension for Zach Metsa with an average annual value of $900,000 that converts to a one-way deal for the 2027–28 season.
- Metsa will remain on the final year of his current two-way contract for 2026–27 and is slated to earn $850,000 at the NHL rate under that deal.
- Metsa played 43 NHL games in 2025–26, scoring two goals and six points with a plus-16 rating while logging about 11 minutes a night, and he also appeared in two playoff games and scored his first postseason goal.
- An undrafted late developer, Metsa captained Quinnipiac to the 2023 national title, signed with AHL Rochester in 2023, and compiled 16 goals and 85 points in 142 AHL regular-season games before earning his first NHL contract in 2025.
- The one-way extension gives Metsa more pay and job security at the NHL level and gives the Sabres a cost-controlled, homegrown defensive depth option to simplify roster decisions next season.