E. Johnson signs 1-year, $3.25 million contract with Sabres

Erik Johnson signed a one-year, $3.25 million contract with the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday.

The 35-year-old defenseman had eight assists in 63 regular-season games for the Colorado Avalanche last season and one goal in seven Stanley Cup Playoff games.

"We had about five or six options and Buffalo was right at the top of the list for me," Johnson said Sunday. "Playing against them the last few years, they remind me of Colorado a few years prior when we were building it. They have a great nucleus of young talent and I think they're knocking at the door. It was a real appealing spot to me to go there and help in any way I can. I think it's a team that's really close. I was excited that they were really interested. They were definitely the most aggressive team. I could just tell they really wanted me and that was why I ended up signing here."

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Selected by the St. Louis Blues with the No. 1 pick in the 2006 NHL Draft, Johnson has 337 points (88 goals, 249 assists) in 920 regular-season games for the Blues and Avalanche, and 13 points (five goals, eight assists) in 55 playoff games. He won the Stanley Cup with the Avalanche in 2022.

Johnson is one of four active NHL defensemen to be chosen with the No. 1 pick of a draft; two of the others are the Sabres' Rasmus Dahlin (2018) and Owen Power (2020). The fourth is Aaron Ekblad of the Florida Panthers (2014).

"It's a group that reminds me a lot of our group in Denver, maybe a little bit less experienced right now," Johnson said. "I just thought that group as a whole reminded me a lot of a younger version of the Avs group. Dahlin seems super dynamic. I think he's one of the best in the league. Power and [Mattias] Samuelsson, it's a real great trio, and you can plug other guys in and out with those guys throughout the course of the season. It just felt like a really good fit and I think I can lend some experience. They're so good that they're not going to need a lot of help with on-ice stuff. It's just a lot of off-the-ice stuff and handling the day-to-day pressures that come with being a team that's up and coming like the Sabres are."

The Sabres on Saturday also signed defenseman Connor Clifton to a three-year, $9.99 million contract ($3.33 million average annual value) and forward Tyson Jost to a one-year, $2 million contract.

"Erik Johnson's had a very, very impressive strong NHL career but there's also there's also a leadership aspect to that and there's nothing like someone that's been through it able to sit next to someone in the locker room that's exactly been in their shoes and just to help in that regard," Sabres general manager Kevyn Adams said. "And as I think about the amount of minutes that especially Dahlin and Power and Samuelsson play overall, what we really were trying to do is put a group of six together and ultimately eight that Donnie [Granato] has opportunities to move guys around depending on matchups, are we home, are we away, are we up the goal, are we down a goal. You may see our partners change.

"So we now have a group that in my opinion, when the game starts, the six players can play with anyone. It doesn't have to be, this is a top pair. It can kind of mix and match."

NHL.com independent correspondent Heather Engel contributed to this report.