Breaking: One young free agent finally agrees to contract before the season starts!

Fans across the National Hockey League have been patiently waiting for some young free agents to finally agree to a contract extension before the 2018-19 season kicks off on Oct. 3. Well, you can now scratch one name off the list, as the Buffalo Sabres and forward Sam Rienhart have come to terms on a new deal, as reported by NHL insider Bob McKenzie of TSN. 

Both parties have agreed to a two-year, $7.3 million contract. 

Reinhart posted a career-high 50 points in 82 games last season and tied star forward Jack Eichel for the team lead with 25 goals.

In the case of Reinhart, there was a load of optimism seeing that he had been skating with his Sabres teammates ahead of camp. The negotiations seemed to be going back and forth, but at least there was open-mindness on both sides of the spectrum. 

There is also a lot of hope when it comes to the upcoming season and the success the Sabres might enjoy this time around. Buffalo added a three-time 30-goal scorer in Jeff Skinner, a goalie in Carter Hutton who had the league’s best save percentage and goals-against average, as well as two rookies (Rasmus Dahlin and Casey Mittelstadt) who could battle it out for the Calder Trophy.

Things are turning out to be pretty good in Buffalo... 

Unfortunately the same can't be said to Toronto Maple Leafs free agent William Nylander, who haven't been to camp and awaits an agreement on his contract extension. Last night, Leafs general manager Kyle Dubas couldn’t provide much assurance that a deal was getting close, and fans are starting to worry as the season opener fast approaches. 

“We hope to and I have the same level of confidence that we can accomplish what we set out to do when I said that at the beginning of July,” Dubas told Nick Kypreos. 

“It’s our full intention that all these young guys are here for a long time…we’re trying to go through a process with them, with Lewis Gross and William Nylander…We got to be very mindful of our process here because of the impact it’s going to have on our young core pieces and we’re trying to make it all fit and sustain this as long as we can.”

Let's hope for the Maple Leafs it will have a similar ending than the one Reinhart just wrote with the Sabres.