Girgensons gets a 1-year, $2.5 million contract to return to the Sabres for a 10th season

Updated Jun. 20, 2023 7:20 p.m. ET

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BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Forward Zemgus Girgensons is returning to the Buffalo Sabres for a 10th season after signing a one-year, $2.5 million contract Tuesday.

The 29-year-old Girgensons is the team’s longest-serving active player and was eligible to become an unrestricted free agent next month.

Despite extending their NHL-record postseason drought to a 12th consecutive season, the Sabres had 42 wins, their most since 2010-11, the last time they made the playoffs. Buffalo finished 10th in the Eastern Conference standings, falling two points short of making the playoffs.

Girgensons, who is from Latvia, was selected by the Sabres in the first round of the 2012 draft, and he has established himself as a valuable checking-line forward.

He’s coming off a season in which he had 10 goals and eight assists in 80 games. Overall, Girgensons has 81 goals and 174 points in 625 career games, which rank 13th on the team list.

In a separate move, the Sabres signed forward Lukas Rousek to a two-year contract worth $1.55 million. Rousek was a pending restricted free agent after completing his two-year entry level contract.

From the Czech Republic, he played two games for Buffalo last season, and scored a goal and an assist in his NHL debut. The 2019 sixth-round pick spent the rest of the season in the minors, where Rousek led AHL Rochester with 40 assists and 56 points in 70 games.

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