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“All the moves we made kind of makes you forget about the past season,” said Girgensons, who scored 15 goals and 30 points in his second season. “The roster that we’re going to have makes you look forward.”

On Thursday, the roster continued to improve with the Sabres signing free agent defenceman Cody Franson to a two-year contract worth US$6.35-million. While his options were obviously limited at this point in the off-season, Franson said the team’s off-season makeover was part of the reason he committed to Buffalo.

“Very appealing,” Franson, who signed a two-year contract on Thursday, said of joining the Sabres. “Bringing in guys like O’Reilly and Kaner and a number of the acquisitions they made — drafting a young player like Eichel — it’s an organization that’s going in the right direction. It made my decision very easy to want to be a part of that.”

A top-pairing defenceman with the Toronto Maple Leafs who scored 32 points in 55 games, Franson had sat on the shelf this summer in large part because of how he played after being traded to the Nashville Predators.

Franson, who had one goal and four points in 23 games, never got comfortable in Nashville. He was not utilized on the power play, had difficulty getting ice time and struggled in a depth role.

“I have nothing but good things to say about Nashville,” said Franson, who was drafted by the Predators. “But unfortunately it wasn’t a good fit this time around.”

The Sabres, who have Rasmus Ristolainen, Zach Bogosian and Josh Gorges on the backend, will be expecting more out of Franson than the Predators were.