The Buffalo Sabres announced an agreement with forward Noah Ostlund on an eight-year, $52.8 million contract extension on Monday. He's now linked to the Eastern Conference club through 2035 with the new deal set to take effect next summer.
Ostlund was an unsung hero for the Sabres as they finally ended a 14-year playoff drought last season. He provided steady middle-six contributions in all three zones, finishing the campaign with 27 points (11 goals and 16 assists) in 60 appearances.
His well-rounded skill set gives the 22-year-old Swede a high floor, and it feels like he has another gear or two available offensively. So, it's not a surprise Buffalo's front office, led by general manager Jarmo Kekalainen, decided to lock him up early before a potential full breakout.
Yet, even in an era with a rising salary cap, it's not a risk-free signing. The main concern is Ostlund's injury history.
A perfectly fair deal for Noah Ostlund pic.twitter.com/bJ7eETpquy
— dom 📈 (@domluszczyszyn) September 14, 2026
The 5-foot-11 center, who's also spent quite a bit of time on the wing for the Sabres, has missed time to due injuries in each of the past four seasons, dating back to his time as a prospect.
Ostlund was sidelined during each of his final two years in Sweden — an upper-body injury in 2022-23 and a concussion in 2023-24 — after Buffalo selected him with the No. 16 overall pick in the 2022 NHL Draft.
He then made the jump to North America, but his first full campaign with the AHL's Rochester Americans was cut short by hand surgery that caused him to miss two months of action.
Ostlund earned a full-time role with the Sabres in 2025-26, and played well when healthy, but he missed the latter stages of the regular season with an upper-body injury. He returned in the playoffs but was quickly sidelined again because of a lower-body injury.
Noah Ostlund's playoff debut is one we won't forget 😤 pic.twitter.com/DWTJmUENfZ
— Buffalo Sabres (@BuffaloSabres) April 24, 2026
That's a lot of ailments in a four-year span, and it's a concern for a player who's a bit undersized (180 pounds), particularly for someone who'll need to operate in the most dangerous areas of the ice if he's going to emerge as a more complete offensive contributor.
That doesn't mean Buffalo's bet on the two-way winger is a bad one. In fact, there's decent chance it's viewed as a steal if he does eventually turn a corner in the attacking zone.
The injuries simply represent a downside that must be taken into consideration, especially when it comes to a contract that extends into the middle of the next decade.
Could Jiri Kulich be next to earn a contract extension from the Buffalo Sabres?
The Sabres have been proactive when it comes to signing young players to long-term extensions. They're making an understandable bet on internal improvement amid a period where NHL contract values are rising at a rapid rate due to the increasing cap.
Zach Benson, Josh Doan, Peyton Krebs, Olen Zellweger and now Ostlund have all received new deals during the 2026 calendar year.
Jiri Kulich may be next in line.
The 22-year-old center missed a vast majority of last season because of a blood clot, but he should be a full go when Buffalo opens training camp this week.
Kulich flashed some elite scoring potential during his time with the Amerks, tallying 53 goals in 123 AHL games, and had started to make a larger NHL impact late in the 2024-25 season before his development was derailed early in 2025-26.
Now the Sabres face a familiar question: Do they lock him in long-term extension now, potentially getting tremendous value before his NHL breakthrough, or do they wait to see whether he's back to full strength to eliminate some of the risk? There may not be a perfect answer.
Before the setback, Buffalo was operating under the belief Kulich, another 2022 first-round pick, was going to emerge as its first-line center. It's been one of the biggest missing pieces to the club's roster puzzle over the past handful of years.
In the current NHL cap environment, that type of player is going to soon cost around $15 million annually. The Sabres would likely be able to secure Kulich at a much more team-friendly number if a deal gets done in the relatively near future.
Yet, there's no guarantee the shoot-first forward will ever reach that high bar because of defensive concerns and the lingering uncertainty as he returns from the blood clot.
It's an ever-evolving situation and, while Buffalo is showing its desire to make early calls on its young players, the Kulich situation is the most complex of them all. As it stands, he's scheduled to become a restricted free agent at season's end.
Don't be shocked if an extension comes quite early in the 2026-27 season, once the promising forward shows he's healthy and ready to make an impact after the lengthy absence.
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