Sabres sign forwards Justin Danforth, Tyson Kozak to multi-year contracts
The Buffalo Sabres have agreed to terms on a two-year contract with unrestricted free agent winger Justin Danforth, TSN’s Bob McKenzie reported Tuesday afternoon.
Additionally, the Sabres have announced a new three-year contract with restricted free agent Tyson Kozak, who appeared in his first 21 NHL games with the club in the 2024-25 season.
Danforth, 32, is a 5’8″ winger who has spent his entire NHL career to date with the Columbus Blue Jackets. According to McKenzie, his new two-year deal with the Sabres is worth $1.8 million per season.
Kozak, 22, was a 2021 seventh-round pick (No. 193 overall) of the Sabres who has developed into a solid depth piece in the organization. The 5’11” forward is now under contract for the next three years at a $775,000 NHL cap hit.
Forward Justin Danforth to Buffalo on a two-year deal with an AAV of $1.8 million
We have signed forward Tyson Kozak to a three-year contract with an AAV of $775,000. Details → bufsabres.co/44rG3Z1 #LetsGoBuffalo | @NorthtownAuto
Danforth’s career trajectory is one of the more unique ones among current NHL players. An alumnus of Sacred Heart Unitversity and the OJHL’s Cobourg Cougars, Danforth never quite latched on in the AHL and ECHL after leaving school and left for Finland shortly thereafter.
But after three highly productive seasons overseas — two in the Liiga, one with KHL club Vityaz Podolsk — Danforth signed with the Blue Jackets as a free agent and quickly established himself as an NHL-calibre bottom-six forward in his late 20s.
In 183 career games over parts of four seasons in Columbus, Danforth has racked up 31 goals and 64 points. The Oshawa product has never played in a Stanley Cup Playoff game during his career and will now attempt to play a part in ending Buffalo’s long postseason drought.
Kozak collected three goals and five points in his 21-game stint with the Sabres last season. The Souris, Manitoba product spent his junior career with the WHL’s Portland Winterhawks, and while he hasn’t been the most productive professional to date, his style of play is conducive to success in a bottom-six role.
The Sabres have not been particularly busy in this UFA signing period, with goaltender Alex Lyon being their main acquisition thus far. Most of the talk around the Sabres right now has to do with RFA defenseman Bowen Byram, whose name has surfaced in trade talks over the past few months.
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