The Buffalo Sabres continue to make moves ahead of the start of free agency on Wednesday and late Sunday night were able to bring back one of their own free agents. According to Elliotte Friedman, the Buffalo Sabres and Beck Malenstyn agreed to a six-year deal with an AAV of $3 million.
Malenstyn joined the Sabres in 2024 after Buffalo traded a second-round pick for Malenstyn, who was a restricted free agent at the time. He would sign a two-year deal with an AAV of $1.375 million.
This new contract not only is a pay raise with his AAV doubling but also is a surprising commitment in terms of term with it being a six-year deal. However, Malenstyn certainly earned it this past season as a key part of their fourth-line.
He finished the season with seven goals and seven assists but led the team in hits with 282 and finished fifth in the entire NHL in the category. Malenstyn also made big plays for the Sabres in the playoffs as he had three points in 13 games with 42 hits and 10 blocked shots.
In addition to what he does on the fourth line by providing energy with his forechecking, he was also a big part of the Sabres' penalty kill. He actually finished with the lowest xGA among Sabres' skaters with 100 or more minutes of penalty kill at only 17.83, per Natural Stat Trick.
Buffalo Sabres have two restricted free agents left without contracts ahead of free agency
According to Puckpedia, if Malenstyn's AAV is official at $3 million, the Sabres will have just under $10.8 million in cap space. While they have five players who are unrestricted free agents, the focus now really shifts to the two restricted free agents they have in Peyton Krebs and the recently acquired Olen Zellweger.
It is hard to imagine that Olen Zellweger would not be brought back after the Sabres just traded a second round pick in this past weekend's NHL Draft and prospect Anton Wahlberg. However, Krebs is a little bit more of an unknown but would be a big win for Buffalo if they could extend him as well.
If the Sabres don't make any additional trades or buy any players out and sign both of these two, they likely won't have much left to be active in free agency. However, with how active Jarmo Kekalainen has been leading up to the NHL Draft, the Sabres probably have a move or two left before free agency officially begins on July 1st.
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