Two RFAs the Sabres should keep and two they shouldn’t
With four players (besides UPL) set to explore free agency, who stays and who goes?
The Buffalo Sabres, like all NHL teams this offseason, have some decisions to make. Four UFAs are set to hit free agency July 1, and five RFAs. While SabreNoise and other sites have covered the soon to depart UFAs, there’s been scantier coverage about the restricted free agents.
Here are two RFAs the Sabres should resign before the free agency deadline and two the franchise could let go if they get better offers elsewhere.
Peyton Krebs
Forward Peyton Krebs came to Buffalo with Alex Tuch as part of the Jack Eichel trade in 2021. While Tuch has enjoyed a strong offensive run in his time playing for the blue and gold with two 20 goal plus seasons, his former Vegas teammate Krebs has struggled.
Number 19 had just 9 goals and 17 assists in his best season in Buffalo in 2022-23. It might be too soon to pull the plug on any Krebs resigning. Not long ago, WGR 550’s Paul Hamilton made the case that the Sabres should lock him up before the free agency deadline.
Hamilton compared Krebs to recently traded center Casey Mittelstadt. Many sports pundits and fans, including Hamilton, gave up on Mitts when he had low stats a few years ago. Mittelstadt turned out to be a late bloomer and Krebs could be the same type of player.
This writer agrees with Hamilton and feels the Sabres mistakenly traded Mittelstadt away. Given Buffalo’s cap space, GM Kevyn Adams could make a deal with Krebs that wouldn’t cost the team a ton in salary cap and might prove to be a wise decision.
Henri Jokiharju
Defenseman Henri Jokiharju is another RFA scheduled to explore free agency when the calendar hits July. Looking like an afterthought at the end of 2022-23, Jokiharju showed a strong improvement as last season rolled along. When the dust settled on this past hockey year, Number 10 enjoyed a +14, with 106 blocks, 92 hits and 18 takeaways.
The right shooting D-man also showed a little offensive skill, with 3 goals, 17 assists and 20 total points. While he’s not as aggressive with the puck in opponents’ zones as Rasmus Dahlin, Jokiharju has shown he’s willing to help out Buffalo’s forwards, not just pass the puck to them or dump it out of the Sabres end of the ice.
One of Buffalo’s weaknesses is inconsistent, undisciplined defense. The Sabres need to shore up their D if they hope to break out of their NHL record breaking playoff drought. Resigning a veteran defenseman like Jokiharju would help them out in that department.
Kale Clague
Fellow defenseman Kale Clague is a player who hasn’t quite worked out for the blue and gold. When the Sabres signed him on July 13, 2022, the team’s managers hoped he’d be part of the solution. He played 33 games for Buffalo the following season, but had a -3, with 24 blocks, 24 hits and 7 takeaways.
Adams sent Clague down to Rochester, but his numbers didn’t improve in the AHL. He did come back up to Buffalo for three games this year, where he had an assist but did little else noteworthy.
Kale has had two seasons to prove himself with the Sabres but hasn’t accomplished what he or the franchise thought he might. It could be he won’t become a consistent defensive athlete or maybe he needs a change of scenery. Either way, Buffalo can afford to cut him loose and see if he gets any better offers.
Jacob Bryson
Bryson is the third Sabres defenseman who will soon become an RFA. He’s had an up and down four years with the blue and gold, with his best season in 2021-22, where his stats were 73 blocks, 55 hits and 25 takeaways. He also enjoyed 1 goal and 9 assists.
Since then, Bryson’s numbers have plummeted, and his blocks, hits and takeaways this past year were 40, 17 and 4, respectively. One improvement was +/-, where he improved to +5 from -24 the previous season. However, he hasn’t done much else and is usually relegated to the Sabres’ second or third defensive line.
Bryson is not a bad defenseman, but an OK one. That’s fine if the Sabres have no postseason aspirations, but management keeps promising fans they do. If owner Terry Pegula and Kevyn Adams really wish to see Buffalo play games past April, they’ll need every D-line to be stellar, not average or even mediocre. Bryson is not stellar and there’s no compelling reason for the top brass to offer him more salary to stay.
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