Projecting which Sabres players will receive contract extensions in the 2024 offseason

JJ Peterka

If anyone’s receiving an extension this offseason, it’s JJ Peterka, thanks to the stunner of a campaign he pulled off this season. Peterka’s 28-goal eruption may look modest next season once he figures out how to consistently score in this league, but he may not even need to prove himself a second time. 

Peterka has more than shown he can be part of this team heading into 2024-25 and beyond; we shouldn’t be surprised if he gets what is now an inevitable extension this summer. But, as mentioned in the previous section, Jack Quinn did enough when healthy to at least stick around this race if it doesn’t become feasible to keep both players around on long-term deals early on.

Remember, we’re also factoring in signing current free agents, re-signing current high-end restricted free agents like Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, and even looking at those who will need new contracts two or three years into the future. That said, if Peterka isn’t the next Sabre to sign an extension this summer, we also shouldn’t be surprised. 

The likeliest scenario is that Peterka will sign long-term if he outperforms Quinn or if the latter continues to struggle staying healthy. But that won’t happen until well into the 2024-25 season, so let’s project no extension for Peterka this summer, or at least he wouldn’t sign something until the latter stages of the preseason.