The Minnesota Wild have signed defenseman Zach Bogosian to a two-year contract extension with a $1.25 million cap hit.
Bogosian, aged 33, was in the last year of a three-year contract worth $850,000, initially signed with the Tampa Bay Lightning in the 2021 offseason. Scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent in 2024, he has now secured a new contract extending to the 2025-26 season. The reports suggest that this new deal does not include any additional bonuses or clauses.
When Bogosian’s extension begins next season, his salary will be comparable to that of San Jose Sharks defensemen Nikolai Knyzhov and Matthew Benning, amounting to approximately 1.5% of the salary cap for the upcoming season.
Enjoying one of his most productive seasons in recent years, Bogosian has contributed 1 goal and 8 assists, totaling 9 points in 47 games split between the Lightning and the Wild, all of which were earned with the latter. This marks his highest point total in a season since 2018-19, and he is projected to reach 12 points if he maintains his current pace until the season’s end.
Selected as the third overall pick by the Atlanta Thrashers in the 2008 NHL Draft, Bogosian swiftly joined the lineup the following season, playing three seasons for the Thrashers before their relocation to Winnipeg in 2011. He then played for the Jets for four seasons before being traded to the Buffalo Sabres in 2015 alongside Evander Kane.
After six seasons with the Sabres, Bogosian and the team mutually agreed to terminate his contract in 2020, allowing him to pursue opportunities elsewhere. He subsequently signed with the Lightning, winning the Stanley Cup with them that same season. Following a brief stint with the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2021, he rejoined the Lightning for the 2021-22 season, spending parts of three more seasons with them before being traded to the Wild earlier in the 2023-24 season for a seventh-round pick.
As for the Wild, they currently hold sixth place in the Central Division with a record of 29-27-6, trailing the Los Angeles Kings and Nashville Predators by eight points for the two wild card spots in the Western Conference. Their next game will be against the Arizona Coyotes on Thursday at 9 p.m. EST, following their 4-3 victory over the San Jose Sharks on Sunday.
This value sheet includes salaries, projections for DraftKings and FanDuel, and three punt options for defensemen. These largely predicate around their ability to produce peripheral points by taking shots, and blocking them. These players are always live for the bonus’ on DraftKings.
A new addition is the “honourable mention forwards,” taking a look at some low-owned plays that expectations should be tempered with. Still, they bring some level of value in the form of a strong projection tonight, or good past production against their opponents.
These projections don’t tell you exactly what’s going to happen. One game sample has too much randomness to pin down exact predictions. Instead, the projections represent a player’s average performance on average if that matchup was played repeatedly. There is a wide range of possible outcomes, and the projections represent each player’s average of those possibilities.
