BUFFALO, N.Y. — The Buffalo Sabres keep making news before Thursday's season opener, in a good way.
First, they signed defenseman Rasmus Dahlin to an eight-year contract worth $88 million on Monday.
Now they've announced that another young defenseman, Owen Power, has signed a seven-year contract with $8.35 million per season. The Sabres announced the news Wednesday night in social media posts.
Buffalo now has five core players younger than 26 years old signed to long-term deals: Power, Dahlin, defenseman Mattias Samuelsson, and forwards Tage Thompson and Dylan Cozens.
Dahlin was the No. 1 overall pick on 2018, and Power the same in 2021. The new contract will go into effect after the last year of his three-contract expires after this season, which starts Thursday night with a home game against the New York Rangers.
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Thompson last year signed a seven-year, $50 million contract. Cozens is signed for (seven years and $49.7 million, and Samuelsson is under contract for seven years and $30 million.
Sabres general manager Kevyn Adams made it no secret that he wanted to sign Dahlin and Power to long-term deals.
"This process started back around the combine, before the draft," Adams said last month before the team hit the ice to start training camp. "The key takeaways are that I've explained to their camps, and them individually, how important they are to this franchise, how we feel about them, and we want them here long-term."
The Sabres start a new season at 7 p.m. Thursday.
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