The Buffalo Sabres signed forward Zach Benson to a seven-year contract with an average annual value of $7.5 million, the team announced Wednesday. He\u2019s now under contract through the 2032-33 season.<\/p>\n
Benson, 21, was set to become a restricted free agent after his third NHL season, which saw him record a career-high 43 points (13+30) in 65 games before starring in the Sabres\u2019 two playoff series.<\/p>\n
An NHL regular since being drafted 13th overall in 2023, Benson opened 2025-26 with a couple injuries \u2013 he missed 13 games in October\/November \u2013 and a 17-game goal drought. But beginning Dec. 11, when he scored his first of the season in Vancouver, he had 32 points (13+19) in 48 games with a plus-27 rating.<\/p>\n
The best version of Benson emerged in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, when he matched Tage Thompson\u2019s team-leading five goals and added four assists. His typical forechecking effort and persistence on pucks reached another level and drove the Sabres\u2019 offense against the Bruins and Canadiens. Plus, his physical edge and nose for the net made him an irritant for opponents; he drew 11 penalties in the playoffs, third most in the league for the entire postseason.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u00a0didn’t\u00a0change his game,\u201d Jason Zucker said. \u201cNothing\u00a0changed.\u00a0Just the difference is he\u00a0scored goals\u00a0in big\u00a0moments, and I say that as a huge compliment to him. He plays that way every single game.\u00a0He’s\u00a0tough\u00a0to play against. He works incredibly hard. He makes great plays.\u00a0He’s\u00a0around the net all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Some more Benson numbers:<\/p>\n
Including the playoffs, the 2025-26 Sabres went 12-2-3 when Benson scored a goal and 32-3-4 when he had a point.
\nDuring Benson\u2019s even-strength minutes in the playoffs, the Sabres outscored their opponents 12-6 and controlled 61 percent of the expected goals (Natural Stat Trick).
\nBenson has 101 career regular season points (34+67), the sixth most in Sabres history before turning 21 (his birthday was May 12).<\/p>\n
Benson has also become a central figure in the locker room and a fan favorite in Buffalo. That, combined with his performance to date and his potential as a top-line regular, made him a priority for the Sabres as he became a UFA this summer.<\/p>\n
\u201cI see him as a true core piece that fills all the boxes,\u201d general manager Jarmo Kek\u00e4l\u00e4inen said in May. \u201c\u2026 I can\u2019t say enough good things about Zach Benson. He\u2019s got skill, he\u2019s got hockey sense, he\u2019s got instincts, he\u2019s relentless, he\u2019s a competitor. What a great playoff he had and, again, I\u2019m so excited about the level that he can get to, still. \u2026 Just wait until he becomes the big, strong man that we\u2019re going to be pushing him to get to.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Buffalo Sabres signed forward Zach Benson to a seven-year contract with an average annual value of $7.5…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":724230,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[385,99],"class_list":["post-724229","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/724229","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=724229"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/724229\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/724230"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=724229"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=724229"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=724229"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}