Sabres sign Jack Rathbone to two-year contract extension

The Buffalo Sabres have signed pending unrestricted free agent defenseman Jack Rathbone to a two-year contract extension that carries an $800,000 average annual value, according to PuckPedia.

Through 63 games last season with the AHL affiliated Rochester Americans, Rathbone scored six times and added 17 assists for 23 points coupled with a plus-nine rating and 51 penalty minutes. Rathbone then added another three points through eight postseason appearances.

Originally chosen by the Vancouver Canucks in the fourth round of the 2017 NHL Draft, the 26-year-old Boston native has totaled 28 career appearances over three seasons in which he has collected two goals and three assists for five points. Rathbone’s most recent NHL showing came with the Canucks during the 2022-23 campaign.

At the minor-league level, Rathbone has totaled 32 goals and 79 assists for 111 points over five seasons and 216 total appearances. With the Abbotsford Canucks in 2021-22, the journeyman rearguard notched a career-high 40 points counting 10 goals and 30 assists coming in 39 games.

The Sabres previously acquired Rathbone last offseason as an unrestricted free agent following a single season with the AHL’s Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins.

A graduate of the NCAA’s Harvard Crimson, Rathbone spent two seasons in the collegiate ranks from 2018-20 where in 61 total appearances he tallied 14 goals and 39 assists for 53 points. In Rathbone’s second season, he was named to the ECAC’s First All-Star Team after posting 31 points counting seven goals and 24 assists in 28 games.

With Rathbone now signed, goaltender James Reimer remains the lone player from the Sabres’ NHL roster who can become an unrestricted free agent as of July 1. The Sabres also have six pending restricted free agents including forwards Ryan McLeod and Tyson Kozak, defensemen Jacob Bernard-Docker, Bowen Byram, and Conor Timmins, as well as goaltender Devon Levi, per PuckPedia.