Peyton Krebs, Sabres agree to 2-year contract on eve of training camp
Primarily used as a fourth-line center since his trade from the Vegas Golden Knights in November 2021, Krebs has 22 goals and 62 points in 202 games in the NHL.
Another coach had been fired by the Buffalo Sabres one day earlier in April when Peyton Krebs repeated his belief that better times are ahead.
“We’re gonna win a Stanley Cup, I know it,” the 23-year-old center said after Don Granato was let go. “And once we do, the fans are gonna be fired up, so it’ll be great.”
Krebs ensured Tuesday that he’ll remain part of the Sabres’ plans, as the restricted free agent agreed to a two-year contract worth $1.45 million per season to tether himself to Buffalo through at least 2025-26. A source familiar with the negotiations confirmed the news, which was first reported by Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman.
The Sabres acquired Peyton Krebs in the trade that sent Jack Eichel to Vegas in November 2021. Harry Scull Jr., Buffalo News
His role with the Sabres remains uncertain with training camp beginning Wednesday. Primarily used as a fourth-line center since his trade from the Vegas Golden Knights in 2021, Krebs has 20 goals and 66 points in 215 NHL games. He totaled only four goals and 17 points in 80 games last season, his third with Buffalo since he was acquired with Alex Tuch and draft picks for former team captain Jack Eichel.
The Sabres overhauled their third and fourth forward lines this offseason by adding Ryan McLeod, Sam Lafferty, Nicolas Aube-Kubel, Beck Malenstyn and Jason Zucker, though Adams said that the latter could skate as high in the lineup as the No. 1 line.
McLeod was acquired from the Edmonton Oilers to center the third line, filling the spot vacated in March by Casey Mittelstadt’s trade to the Colorado Avalanche. The Sabres gave Krebs a brief audition to see if the 2019 first-round draft pick could be counted on to fill that spot under new coach Lindy Ruff in 2024-25, but the sample size was too small for the club to get a proper evaluation and the urgency to reach the playoffs for the first time since 2011 led Adams to trade 2022 first-round pick Matt Savoie for McLeod.
Krebs had one goal and five points with a minus-3 rating while averaging only 12:12 of ice time across 20 games after the Sabres made the pre-deadline blockbuster trade to add Bowen Byram for Mittelstadt, who received a three-year, $17.25 million contract from Colorado. Krebs had the second-highest offensive-zone faceoff percentage on the team during that span, trailing only Jeff Skinner, yet Krebs had the fourth-worst on-ice shot-attempt differential and shot-quality share at 5-on-5, according to Natural Stat Trick.
Context is important, though. Krebs’ most common linemates during that span, Skinner and Jordan Greenway, were struggling offensively late in the season. The entire team wasn’t scoring at 5-on-5 the way it did in 2022-23, when Krebs excelled in a shutdown, checking-line role alongside Kyle Okposo and Zemgus Girgensons.
Krebs will likely have to win the fourth-line center job in a competition with Lafferty. The 29-year-old forward has double-digit goals in consecutive seasons, but he was mostly used on the wing prior to 2022-23 when he was shifted to center by the Chicago Blackhawks as the organization tanked to position itself to draft Connor Bedard with the top pick in 2023. Lafferty won 51.1% of his faceoffs between Chicago and Toronto that season, but he regressed to 42.1% with the Vancouver Canucks in 2023-24. The latter number must improve for him to skate at center for Ruff, who has repeated his intent to address Buffalo’s continued struggles in the faceoff dot.
“First of all, he’s still a young player,” Adams said of Krebs in June. “We forget that because he has been here now a while, since the Eichel trade, and he’s kind of still finding his way, to some extent, and most young players go through that process. But when I asked him about his season at the end of the year at the exit meeting, the first thing he said to me was, ‘I truly believe it can be a really good 200-foot, two-way centerman in this league, and I’m still working and I’m getting better.’ But that was a little bit of a shift.
“When I think when he first got here, there was so much emphasis on offense and he’d always been an offensive player, which is normal by the way. Most first-round picks centermen are usually talented, offensive players, and that doesn’t mean that we don’t think he has still a chance to become a really good offensive player. But I just think him embracing the role in playing both sides and wanting to kill penalties and these things.”
Though Krebs hasn’t produced offensively, advanced statistics illustrate that he’s been reliable as a fourth-line center the past two-and-a-half seasons. He had the best on-ice shot-attempt differential on the team during his 60 games to start 2023-24, despite Granato giving Krebs the most defensive-zone starts among the team’s centers. The Sabres outscored their opponents, 24-21, when Krebs was on the ice at 5-on-5 during that span.
There are areas in which Krebs must improve for him to realize his potential, though. Of the 136 NHL forwards to appear in at least 80 games this season, only three had fewer shots on goal than Krebs’ 74. He can force cross-ice passes when a simple approach is needed. His defending wasn’t as sharp when he skated on the third line, though at times the assignment meant more difficult matchups.
Patience is necessary with a player in Krebs’ situation. He was rushed to the NHL by the Sabres following the trade because there was an opportunity available on Buffalo’s roster. Krebs has played only 25 regular-season games in the American Hockey League, and he’s no longer exempt from waivers, so giving him more time in Rochester is not an option. He’s shown gradual improvement in the faceoff dot – including a 46.3% finish last season, a better mark than Lafferty – and he’s a tenacious forward who is willing to throw a punch or finish a check to stick up for a teammate. The Sabres can’t afford to give up on another promising, young center so soon after they lost Mittelstadt, even though the organization used its top pick in the 2024 draft on Finnish center Konsta Helenius, who is expected to be with the Amerks at the start of the season. Noah Ostlund and Jiri Kulich, both of whom were selected in the first round of the 2022, are among the Sabres’ top prospects at the position. Kulich may eventually shift to the wing, especially if Buffalo needs scoring help there this season.
“I think we’re still gonna see him improve and we’re gonna see him grow as a player but I think the upside and I just, I like his competitiveness, I like his character,” Adams added. “And I like now that his mature mindset of different ways to succeed in this league and not just an offensive side. So that to me was a telling statement. And I’m excited about him.”