The Buffalo Sabres have added another presence down the middle with the signing of center Cody Eakin to a two-year contract worth an average annual value of $2.25 million.
Eakin is a seasoned veteran of the NHL, playing nine seasons with the Washington Capitals, Dallas Stars, Vegas Golden Knights and Winnipeg Jets. In 586 career games, the 29-year-old has scored 103 goals and picked up 134 assists along the way.
Standing at 6-foot and 183 pounds, Eakin is a strong two-way presence down the middle who can be a solid third- or fourth-line center. He does not have a high offensive upside, but he can be a solid penalty killer and useful in the defensive end.
Eakin got his NHL start with the Capitals in the 2011-12 season after being a third round pick (85th overall) of Washington in the 2009 NHL Draft. After 30 games with he Capitals, Eakin was part of a trade with the Stars that landed Washington forward Mike Ribiero.
In five seasons in Dallas, Eakin found some offensive consistency, averaging 36.7 points per-game from 2013 to 2016. After a 2016-17 season that saw him regress and only appear in 60 games, the Stars left Eakin exposed in the 2017 Expansion Draft and he was picked up by the Golden Knights.
After a solid first season in Vegas, where he brought some good depth to the bottom-six of the lineup, Eakin exploded with his best offensive season, scoring a career-high 22 goals and registering a career-high 41 point in 78 games.
This past season with his contract set to expire, the Jets acquired Eakin at the trade deadline to try and get some depth down the middle for a playoff push. In eight games in Winnipeg, Eakin scored a goal and an assist before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the rest of the regular season. However, in four playoff games, Eakin went pointless and did not help the Jets in the Stanley Cup Qualification Round in the Edmonton bubble.
With Eakin under contract, the Sabres have nine players under contract up front. He will likely compete for a third or fourth line center role in Buffalo behind Jack Eichel and Eric Staal. All there to compete for a role down the middle includes Curtis Lazar, Casey Mittelstadt and Dylan Cozens.