The Buffalo Sabres signed forward Peyton Krebs to a four-year contract with an average annual value of $4.5 million, the team announced Monday. He\u2019s now under contract through the 2029-30 season.<\/p>\n
Krebs, 25, was a restricted free agent after a career year in 2025-26, his fourth full season in Buffalo. He played all 82 games and set personal highs in goals (12), assists (27), hits (201) and plus-minus (13).<\/p>\n
The former first-round pick (by Vegas) has provided massive value with his versatility. He thrived as both a fourth-line center and a first-line winger last season, becoming a steady offensive contributor in the latter role next to Tage Thompson. Krebs’ playoffs included six points (2+4) in six first-round games against Boston.<\/p>\n
\u201cI try to just bring that mindset that I\u2019m gonna grind for pucks, I\u2019m gonna be hard on the forecheck and get pucks to my teammates, try to make them better,\u201d Krebs said. \u201cI don\u2019t change that whether I\u2019m fourth line or first line.\u201d<\/p>\n
Krebs is a reliable forechecker and a steady physical presence, with his 201 hits ranking second on the team and 22nd leaguewide in the regular season. He was also a staple of the Sabres\u2019 late-game defense, regularly playing 5-on-6 situations and sealing five wins with empty-net goals.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s like my Swiss Army Knife that I can just flip out a different blade at any time and let him go at it,\u201d coach Lindy Ruff said last fall.<\/p>\n
Some more numbers:<\/p>\n
Krebs was one of the NHL\u2019s faster skaters in 2025-26, ranking in the 92nd percentile for max speed (23.28 mph) and 90th percentile for 20-22 mph bursts (158).
\nThe Sabres outscored their opponents 35-22 in the regular season with Krebs and Thompson deployed together at even strength.
\nKrebs leads the team with 243 games played (of a possible 246) over the last three seasons.
\nHe was one of seven players leaguewide with 35-plus points and 200-plus hits.<\/p>\n
In May, Krebs discussed his desire to stick around in Buffalo, and that\u2019s now a reality.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy daughter was born here, I got engaged here. This is definitely a home for my family and I, and I\u2019d love to be a part of this team as long as I can,\u201d he said. \u201cObviously, the group of guys here are unbelievable and a lot of fun to be around. I think that\u2019s the biggest thing: Is it a fun environment to come to the rink? And that it is, for sure. I got to know my neighbors really well, and all the people out in Clarence where I live. It\u2019s definitely something I\u2019m looking forward to, and I want to bring a Stanley Cup here.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Buffalo Sabres signed forward Peyton Krebs to a four-year contract with an average annual value of $4.5…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":760706,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[385,99],"class_list":["post-760705","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/760705","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=760705"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/760705\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/760706"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=760705"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=760705"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=760705"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}