Minnesota Wild sign Zach Bogosian to two-year extension with $1.25 million AAV

The Minnesota Wild have signed defenseman Zach Bogosian to a two-year contract extension with a $1.25 million cap hit.

Bogosian, 33, was in the final year of his three-year contract with an $850,000 contract that he signed with the Tampa Bay Lightning in the 2021 offseason, and was set to become an unrestricted free agent in the 2024 offseason. His new contract will take him through to the 2025-26 season, with no additional bonuses or clauses on this new deal based on reports so far.

Bogosian’s cap hit comparables when his extension kicks in next season are San Jose Sharks defensemen Nikolai Knyzhov and Matthew Benning. It’s also projected to take up 1.5% of next season’s salary cap.

Bogosian has had one of his most productive seasons in recent years, with 1 goal and 8 assists for 9 points in 47 games between the Lightning and Wild, although all nine points have come with the Wild. That is already the most points he’s put up in a season since 2018-19, and his current point pace has him projected to get 12 points should he finish out the season.

Bogosian is the former third-overall pick of the then-Atlanta Thrashers in the 2008 NHL Draft, making the lineup the following season and playing three seasons for the Thrashers before their relocation to Winnipeg in 2011. He played parts of four seasons for the Jets before he was traded to the Buffalo Sabres in 2015 along with Evander Kane.

Bogosian spent parts of six seasons with the Sabres before he and the team agreed to mutually terminate his contract in 2020 so that he could play elsewhere. He signed with the Lightning shortly after, and would go on to win the Stanley Cup with them that season. After a year with the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2021, he returned to the Lightning for the 2021-22 season, spending parts of three more seasons with them before they traded him to the Wild earlier in the 2023-24 season for a seventh-round pick.

The Wild currently sit in sixth in the Central Division with a 29-27-6 record, and are eight points behind the Los Angeles Kings and Nashville Predators for the two wild card spots in the Western Conference. Minnesota will look to build off of Sunday’s 4-3 win over the San Jose Sharks when they visit the Arizona Coyotes on Thursday at 9 p.m. EST.