Peyton Krebs, Buffalo Sabres 19 in the friendly match of the Global Series Challenge EHC RB MUENCHEN - BUFFALO SABRES 0-5 at SAP Garden in Munich, Germany, Sept 27, 2024. Season 2024/2025, matchday x,
Peyton Krebs, Buffalo Sabres 19 in the friendly match of the Global Series Challenge EHC RB MUENCHEN - BUFFALO SABRES 0-5 at SAP Garden in Munich, Germany, Sept 27, 2024. Season 2024/2025, matchday x,
NHL star Peyton Krebs and the Buffalo Sabres just dodged a bullet by agreeing on a deal that would keep their tie going all the way to 2030.
The Sabres center was one of the 15 RFAs who filed for an arbitration hearing this year, with the hearing date set for August 1. However, the Sabres made the smart move of signing him right away, as announced by Canadian sports journalist Elliotte Friedman.
“Peyton Krebs and Buffalo have settled their arbitration case with a 4x $4.5M extension,” he wrote on X on July 13, 2026. Per PuckPedia, this will leave the Sabres with a little over $5 million in cap space.
But there is a reason why this is better than the arbitration hearing, which is a process to settle a contract dispute between a player and the team. But easier said than done.
According to The Score’s writer Thomas Drance, each party gets 90 minutes to present their argument. Teams argue why the player is worth the stated value by the team, and the player argues why they deserve more.
And history shows why Krebs and the Sabres were right to avoid that path.
Why Arbitration Backfires: Lessons From the NHL
Krebs closed the 2025-26 season with 12 goals and 39 points, and keeping him surely strengthens the team’s core. However, Sabre Noise’s writer, Nestor Quixtan, noted how else this signing benefited both Krebs and the Sabres.
“A recent example of that was the Boston Bruins and Jeremy Swayman,” he wrote (published on July 13). “They went to arbitration in the summer of 2023, signing a one-year deal as a result. Swayman blasted the team by stating that the hearing was all about highlighting his flaws and “rip him apart.”
Something similar happened with P. K. Subban and the Montreal Canadiens in 2014. Although they agreed to a one-year, $8.5 million contract, the bond went sour. The team ultimately traded him for Shea Weber with the Nashville Predators.
The Sabres avoided that and fortified their roster without paying a fortune, a total win-win scenario for both parties.
How do you think Krebs' 2026-27 will go? Let us know in the comments.
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Written by
Deblina Roy