The Buffalo Sabres have signed Josh Doan to a seven-year contract extension worth $6.95 million per year, the team announced Wednesday.

“Josh is a player that impacts the team both on and off the ice,” Sabres general manager Jarmo Kekäläinen said in the news release. “He works hard, is competitive and skilled, and his game is going to continue to develop. We believe he will be a core piece of this team moving forward and I am excited to have him as a Buffalo Sabre long term.”

SEVEN MORE YEARS OF DOANER ⚔️

We have signed Josh Doan to a seven-year extension with an AAV of $6.95 million.

Details → https://t.co/zc05oBo2cE pic.twitter.com/XVhj1KQJFh

— Buffalo Sabres (@BuffaloSabres) January 21, 2026

Over the summer, the Sabres sent JJ Peterka to the Utah Mammoth in exchange for Doan and defenseman Michael Kesselring. Doan, who turns 24 in February, has been a home-run addition. He’s already set career highs in goals (15) and points (35) while adding a ton of value as a forechecker and reliable defensive forward. He’s gotten time on the Sabres’ top power play and spent a stretch of games playing alongside Tage Thompson on Buffalo’s top line. In that role, Doan leads the Sabres in on-ice expected goal share at five-on-five, a sign of the way he helps drive play for Buffalo.

Getting Doan locked up earlier at just under $7 million per year should end up as a bargain with the expected rise in the salary cap in the coming years. Not only has Doan’s value been evident on the ice, but he’s also already become a favorite teammate of Thompson and others in Buffalo’s locker room.

Recently, Doan told The Athletic he and his agents had expressed a desire to get a long-term deal done with the Sabres. And in Kekäläinen’s first big move since taking over as general manager in December, he acted quickly to get Doan’s contract taken care of.

“I want to be in Buffalo, and I want to play here,” Doan said recently. “The support I’ve gotten since I got here has been amazing. I laugh with my family, where my old man didn’t leave where he was once, and I’ve been on my way three times now. It’s something at the end of the day, though, I do want to be in one place and grow with a group. I think this is the group to do it with. We have a lot of fun and young guys here.”

To the #sabrehood, from Doaner 💙 pic.twitter.com/LwxSvWwB9k

— Buffalo Sabres (@BuffaloSabres) January 21, 2026

This also helps the Sabres start to budget what their cap sheet will look like for next season. They still have Zach Benson, Kesselring and Peyton Krebs as restricted free agents, along with Alex Tuch and Beck Malenstyn as notable pending unrestricted free agents. But clearly Kekäläinen viewed Doan as a core piece of what he’s building in Buffalo and acted accordingly.