Sabres re-sign Mittelstadt, Jokiharju to 3-year deals worth $7.5M

The Buffalo Sabres re-signed restricted free agents Casey Mittelstadt and Henri Jokiharju to identical three-year deals with average annual values of $2.5 million, the team announced Thursday.

Mittelstadt is coming off the most productive season of his young career. After spending the beginning of the 2020-21 campaign on the taxi squad, the forward thrived under new head coach Don Granato, who replaced the fired Ralph Krueger in March. Mittelstadt tallied 17 points in the final 22 games after returning to the center position and seeing matchups against the opponent's top lines.

"I think a lot of guys, including myself, owe (Granato) quite a bit," Mittelstadt said. "He challenged me when he took over and pushed me to become a better player. I think it's that simple. A lot of the strides I made are partly because of him pushing me or had a lot to do with him pushing me."

The Sabres selected Mittelstadt eighth overall in the 2017 draft. The 22-year-old has 61 points in 155 career games.

Jokiharju also saw increased responsibilities under Granato. The 22-year-old defenseman averaged 19:01 of ice time during the last 27 games of the season, which is over a minute more than his career average. Jokiharju registered eight points in 46 contests this season.

Defenseman Rasmus Dahlin is the only restricted free agent left on the Sabres' books.