The Buffalo Sabres have signed free-agent forward Justin Danforth to a two-year contract with an annual salary of $1.8 million per year, the team announced Wednesday.
Danforth, 32, has played 183 career NHL games across the last four seasons with the Columbus Blue Jackets. In 2024-25, he totaled 21 points in 61 games, averaging 14:16 of ice time. His 126 hits, a career high, ranked fourth on the Blue Jackets.
In 2023-24, Danforth logged career highs in games played (71), assists (16), and points (26). He has been a vital part of the Blue Jackets' bottom six for the last four years. This isn’t Danforth’s first time in the Sabres’ organization, though, as Danforth played 20 games with the Rochester Americans, the Sabres’ AHL affiliate, between the 2016-17 and 2017-18 seasons.
Compared to last year, I think having an older veteran on their 4th line will be more helpful than before. With Sam Lafferty gone and a potential buyout of Beck Malestyn in the works, the Sabres are going to look a lot younger on the fourth line. We may see Tyson Kozak, who just re-signed with the Sabres, we could see Isak Rosen, Noah Ostlund, and more moving forward.
Danforth is the perfect guy to guide these rookies through their first full seasons, and not only that, but Danforth has a chance to set a career-high in points in the Sabres ' powerful offense.
Looking at how well some of the third and fourth players looked for the Sabres last year, Danforth has a chance to play with two of the Sabres best prospects, and could also secure a spot on one of the penalty kills, where the Sabres were one of the best offensive teams on the kill last year.
Danforth won’t bring anything crazy to the table, but he is a grinder type who is going to make this team better defensively and will also surprise people with what he can do offensively.