Later years

Each year from the 2004–05 NHL lockout onward, Jeanneret reupped with the Sabres on short-term deals out of concern for his age and health. Jeanneret's contract was extended in 2007 through the 2008–09 NHL season.^[13] It was further extended in 2008 through the 2009–10 season. He was back for the 2010–11 season along with Neale. During these seasons, Jeanneret did not broadcast games while the Sabres had west coast road trips and a home game against the Boston Bruins. This most recently was from December 27, 2010, through January 8, 2011. He was also off when the Sabres played the Ottawa Senators in Ottawa on January 25, 2011. During Jeanneret's vacation, his son Mark and Kevin Sylvester filled in on play-by-play. The idea for Jeanneret to take time off during west-coast road games during these seasons was that of former managing partner Larry Quinn.^{[citation needed]}

On May 26, 2011, the Sabres announced that Jeanneret (and Neale) would cover only home games and 10 to 15 road games for the Sabres in the 2011–12 NHL season. This was in preparation for Jeanneret's pending retirement, in which Jeanneret stated that he almost retired after the 2010–11 season, but sought the reduced schedule instead.^[14][15] Studio host Kevin Sylvester was tabbed to call those road games, along with Danny Gare. Jeanneret indicated he would take up an increased workload in 2012–13, although he would stop short of a full-time broadcast.^{[citation needed]}

On June 27, 2012, Jeanneret announced that he would return to the broadcast booth full-time during the 2012–13 season, this time with Rob Ray serving as color commentator in addition to the bench reporter role Ray had served in for previous seasons.^[16] Jeanneret indicated it would be his last full season with the team,^[4] and the decision may have been influenced by the labor dispute that shortened the length of the season. Furthermore, Jeanneret missed the first four games of the season due to illness; he ended up calling 44 games for the Sabres in the shortened 2013 season.^[17][18] Jeanneret confirmed he would return for the 2013–14 season (he had signed a two-year contract the previous year), but did not make a solid commitment to how many games he would call in that season.^[19] Most indications were that Jeanneret would call 55 to 65 games for the 2013–14 season.^[20]

Jeanneret announced his intent to slowly phase out of the Sabres play-by-play job over the course of three years. By then, Dan Dunleavy had been chosen as Jeanneret's successor and slowly took over play-by-play duties, first as the substitute, then permanently starting in 2022. Jeanneret called 47 games in 2014–15 and called 41 games in 2015–16; as of 2014, he still intended on retiring in 2016 but did not entirely rule out changing his mind.^[21] Indeed, Jeanneret would sign an agreement to call another half-season of games in 2016–17.^[22]

On July 1, 2014, Jeanneret was diagnosed with stage III throat cancer, which required Jeanneret to miss part of the 2014–15 NHL season. Although he initially sought treatment in his native Canada due to Canada's universal single-payer health care system, he later sought American treatment (coincidentally, from the same doctor that also treated Buffalo Bills quarterback Jim Kelly) due to his stronger personal attachment with the United States after four decades of work in the country.^[23] On November 7, 2014, Jeanneret announced that following a CAT scan he was clear of cancer.^[24] He returned to broadcasting Sabres games eight days later on Saturday, November 15, calling the first period of the game against the Maple Leafs.^[25]

In April 2018, Jeanneret said that he was leaning toward returning for the 2018–19 season, but he was not certain because of his age and possible health complications (in addition to the cancer battle, he'd also had a pacemaker installed).^[26]

Jeanneret appeared in a commercial for Molson Canadian, giving a call for a pick-up pond hockey game.^{[citation needed]}

Jeanneret is the play-by-play announcer for ICE's Super Chexx arcade machines.^[27]

On December 22, 2018, during the third period in a home game against the Anaheim Ducks, Jeanneret suffered an acute medical emergency and abruptly cut out of the broadcast, leaving color commentator Rob Ray and on-site studio host Brian Duff to call play-by-play for the remainder of the game. Almost immediately, fans watching the broadcast or listening to the game took to the Sabres' Twitter page, expressing worry and concern for Jeanneret and asking for updates. Buffalo News sports commentator Mike Harrington was at the game and tweeted about seeing Jeanneret being carried out of the arena on a stretcher - prompting hundreds of further tweets from fans at the Sabres' page. Jeanneret had shown no signs of illness immediately prior to the game.^[28][29] In an interview the next day, Jeanneret, who was still recovering in the hospital, noted that the emergency was not heart-related and that he had overheated prior to losing consciousness (something that he noted was unusual since the arena is usually cold, although Jeanneret had worn a Santa Claus suit for an extended portion of the evening); he did not miss any more of his scheduled play-by-play duties.^[30]

Jeanneret stated in April 2019, as the 2018–19 season wound down, that he was going to take much more time to decide whether he would return. He expressed major disappointment in the Sabres play that season, noting he had never seen a team collapse the way the Sabres had that year.^[31] He eventually decided to return.^[32] In April 2020, in an interview with the Buffalo News, Jeanneret noted he would likely retire following the 2020–21 season, marking his 50th anniversary with the Sabres franchise.^[33] Jeanneret, who called 20 games that season, was set to have his contract expire during the 2021 offseason at the same time as Rob Ray and Dan Dunleavy's; while Sabres spokesman Scott Preisler stated that they intended to bring Ray and Dunleavy back, he made no such commitment to Jeanneret; negotiations for any potential return would not begin until after the season ended.^[34]

On August 20, 2021, Jeanneret announced he would retire following the 2021–22 season, during which he would call a total of 20 home games.^[35][36] He stated that he was unwilling to retire from the team during a season in which there were no fans in attendance, even if the 50-year mark had been a logical milestone.^[37] Jeanneret called his final game on April 29, 2022, a 3–2 overtime win over the Chicago Blackhawks.^[38]