Two tenders the Sabers should keep and two they shouldn’t

The Buffalo Sabres, like all NHL teams this offseason, have decisions to make. Four UFAs are expected to hit free agency on July 1 and five RFAs. While SabreNoise and other sites have covered the upcoming UFA departure, coverage of restricted free agents has been more limited.

Here are two tenders the Sabers should resign before the free agency deadline and two the franchise could abandon if they get better deals elsewhere.

Forward Peyton Krebs arrived in Buffalo with Alex Tuch as part of the Jack Eichel trade in 2021. While Tuch had a strong offensive streak when he played for the blue and gold with two seasons of 20 goals and counting, his former Vegas teammate Krebs has struggled.

Number 19 has only 9 goals and 17 assists in his best season in Buffalo in 2022-23. It may be too early to call time on a Krebs resignation. Not long ago, Paul Hamilton of WGR 550 argued that the Sabers should lock him up before the free agency deadline.

Hamilton compared Krebs to recently traded center Casey Mittelstadt. Many experts and fans of the sport, including Hamilton, gave up on Mitts when he had poor statistics a few years ago. Mittelstadt turned out to be a late bloomer and Krebs could be the same type of player.

This author agrees with Hamilton and believes the Sabers traded Mittelstadt by mistake. Given Buffalo’s cap space, general manager Kevyn Adams could work out a deal with Krebs that wouldn’t cost the team a ton of salary cap space and could prove to be a wise move.