Zach Bogosian's career may have just hit rock bottom.
The veteran Buffalo Sabres defenseman was placed on waivers on Friday in a surprise move from the Sabres but it now seems like the Sabres were right to waive him. In spite of having over 600 games of National Hockey League experience under his belt and in spite of being a right shooting defenseman, one of the most coveted positions in the entire league, it appears as though no one wanted a part of Bogosian, at least not under his current contract.
This now means that Bogosian has cleared waivers and likely has hit a low point in his professional career as a result. Bogosian has never played in the American Hockey League outside of his rookie season however it now seems like he will in fact be going down to the AHL to join the Rochester Americans, the Sabres AHL affiliate team. It is unclear at this time if the 29 year old defenseman intends to cooperate with the demands of his team, but should he fail to report to the AHL no doubt the Sabres will look to terminate his contract.
Perhaps the one positive takeaway here for Bogosian is that he is now a much more valuable trade commodity than he has been as of late. Bogosian now comes with a 30 day waiver exemption should a team trade for him, and it could also open the door for potential salary retention from the Sabres. Bogosian is currently in the final year of his contract and will earn $6 million in cold hard cash this season, however his cap hit is only $5,142,857 for this current season. If the Sabres were to eat half of that salary they would have a significantly more valuable trading chip and could potentially even look to add quality assets in such a trade, especially if it involved the Sabres taking back a bad contract of their own.
It is unfortunate to see Bogosian fall so hard after spending years struggling on a team that has gone nowhere, but unfortunately fate is a fickle mistress and Bogosian is learning that the hard way.
