The Buffalo Sabres signed goaltender Linus Ullmark to a one-year, $2.6-million contract, the team announced Sunday.

The restricted free agent was set to have an arbitration hearing Monday.

Ullmark posted a .915 save percentage and a 2.69 goals-against average in 34 games this past season. He projects to be the club's No. 1 goaltender next year after vastly outplaying veteran Carter Hutton. Both Ullmark and Hutton will be unrestricted free agents next offseason.

The Sabres picked the 27-year-old during the sixth round in 2012.

Sabres general manager Kevyn Adams has been busy Sunday, with the club also avoiding arbitration with forward Sam Reinhart on a one-year, $5.2-million agreement. Victor Olofsson, Casey Mittelstadt, and Lawrence Pilut are the team's remaining RFAs.

Buffalo has $6.5 million left in projected cap space, according to CapFriendly.

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Former Arizona Coyotes forward Martin Hanzal's career has come to an end.

"It's a little bit of a relief because the last couple of years I wasn’t sure if I'd play another NHL game or be healthy again so now it's official: I am retired from the NHL," Hanzal told NHL Network's Craig Morgan. "If I was healthy, I would probably still be playing, but after three back surgeries and especially after the last one, I just can't do it anymore. I was doing everything I could after this last one and it took me a year to get back on the ice."

Hanzal sat out this past season while rehabbing in Europe and was limited to only seven games with the Dallas Stars in 2018-19. He played only 38 with the club in the previous campaign.

"When I went to see the doctor again, it was either do another surgery or be done playing," Hanzal added. "Even the doctor said, 'We're not sure another surgery will help.' I still have a long life ahead of me. I don't want to do another surgery when it's not 100 percent sure it will even help."

Hanzal collected 127 goals and 338 points in 673 career contests. The 33-year-old spent nearly 10 of his 12 NHL seasons with the Coyotes, and he also appeared in 20 games for the Minnesota Wild in 2016-17.

The Czech center notched the fastest hat trick in team history (20:27) while playing for Arizona against the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2008. It was the first three-goal game of his career.

The Coyotes drafted him 17th overall in 2005.

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The Detroit Red Wings and forward Tyler Bertuzzi opened salary arbitration proceedings Sunday after failing to reach an agreement on a new contract, reports Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman.

On Friday, Bertuzzi reportedly filed at $4.25 million, while the club did so at $3.15 million.

Under the NHL's collective bargaining agreement, an arbitrator must decide within 48 hours of the hearing's conclusion. However, unlike previous years, the team and the player are no longer permitted to continue negotiating after the session begins.

Bertuzzi's hearing was scheduled for Sunday when the full list was released on Oct. 13. The 25-year-old restricted free agent is coming off a two-year contract carrying an average annual value of $1.4 million. He signed that pact in June 2018.

He collected 21 goals and 48 points across 71 games this past season, matching his goal total from 2018-19 and notching one more point in two fewer contests. This was the left winger's second full campaign with Detroit, and he's played parts of four years with the Red Wings, who drafted him 58th overall in 2013.

Bertuzzi is the first player to get to this stage this offseason. Other NHLers who had hearings this year signed beforehand, including Sam Reinhart, Ilya Mikheyev, Connor Brown, and Jake Virtanen. Buffalo Sabres goaltender Linus Ullmark is on the docket for Monday, while his teammate, Victor Olofsson, is slated for Nov. 4.

Of the 26 players who filed for arbitration on Oct. 10, there are 13 who've yet to settle their cases, according to CapFriendly. The hearings are scheduled through Nov. 8.

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The Buffalo Sabres inked forward Sam Reinhart to a one-year deal worth $5.2 million, the club announced Sunday.

Reinhart was a restricted free agent who had a salary arbitration hearing scheduled for Tuesday.

The 24-year-old ranked second on the Sabres with 22 goals and 50 points while averaging a career-high 20:38 of ice time over 69 contests in 2019-20. It was the third straight season in which he played in all of the team's games.

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The Calgary Flames signed forward Josh Leivo to a one-year deal worth $875,000, the team announced Saturday.

Leivo spent the last two seasons with the Vancouver Canucks. He totaled seven goals and 12 assists in 36 games this past campaign with Vancouver.

Leivo hasn't played since Dec. 19 after he fractured his right kneecap in a win over the Vegas Golden Knights. He was projected to be out for two-to-three months but he missed the rest of the season, including the league's restart.

The 27-year-old winger has recorded 65 career points in 169 NHL games after being drafted by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the third round in 2011.

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John Scott believes members of the Chicago Blackhawks' front office should be ashamed of themselves for the message they conveyed to fans earlier this week.

"The fact that they are just giving in to their fan base and having to write that letter is embarrassing," the former Blackhawks agitator said on his "Dropping the Gloves" podcast Thursday.

On Tuesday, the Blackhawks shared a letter in which they committed to rebuilding their roster.

Chicago parted with two pieces of the core from their championship years, allowing goaltender Corey Crawford to sign with the New Jersey Devils on the first day of free agency and trading Brandon Saad to the Colorado Avalanche in a deal that netted them defenseman Nikita Zadorov one day later.

A day after the trade, Blackhawks players aired their frustration, as other core veterans were reportedly "pissed" about the moves and said to have "had enough." Captain Jonathan Toews said "a lot of this comes as a shock because it's a completely different direction than we expected."

"I would be upset if I were Toews or (Patrick) Kane, I would be embarrassed if I was the organization, and if I was a fan, I'd be like, 'Great, I complained and they answered me, so guess what? I'm going to complain some more and they better answer me again or else I'm going to be super upset," Scott said.

"You shouldn't have to explain your moves to Twitter trolls just because you made a couple trades," he continued. "It just looks weak. It looks soft. I don't like it."

Scott also mentioned he believes the club wouldn't have written the letter had former team president John McDonough still been with the organization. The Blackhawks fired McDonough in April and replaced him with Danny Wirtz, the son of owner Rocky Wirtz.

McDonough was widely credited with resurrecting the franchise and helping it win three titles in six years.

Scott played parts of two of his eight NHL seasons with Chicago. He retired in 2016.

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If the age disparity between Joe Thornton and many of his new Toronto Maple Leafs teammates wasn't apparent enough, Travis Dermott offered a reminder Saturday.

"I'm really excited to meet him," the young defenseman said of the veteran forward, according to TSN's Mark Masters. "It's going to be really cool to have him on the bench beside me. It's definitely a guy I never thought I'd be playing with. Someone that I definitely grew up watching a lot."

Dermott, who will turn 24 in December, re-signed with the Maple Leafs on a one-year deal worth $874,125 on Friday. Meanwhile, the 41-year-old Thornton inked a one-year, $700,000 pact with Toronto last week.

The Maple Leafs boast several young stars, including 23-year-olds Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner, and 24-year-old William Nylander. Toronto iced the NHL's sixth-youngest team this past season, but the club now ranks 15th, according to Elite Prospects.

That change is due not only to the addition of Thornton, but also 32-year-old forward Wayne Simmonds and goaltender Aaron Dell, who's 31, as well as 30-year-old blue-liners TJ Brodie and Zach Bogosian.

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