Krebs’ 10 goals and 35 points are both career highs, and he ranks second on the team with 173 hits. NHL Edge has him around the 90th percentile for skating speed leaguewide. Even in practice, the former first-round pick (of Vegas) has only one gear.
“His energy, it’s always up there at the top,” said coach Lindy Ruff. “Some of the energy, on a down day, I think even annoys some of the players: ‘Quit competing so hard, I don’t feel as good as you do.’
“But that energy is infectious. There’s not once you have to tell the guy, ‘Come on, pick it up a little bit.’ It’s what drives teams. He’s a driver.”
To Ruff’s point, that intensity sparked an altercation in practice with captain Rasmus Dahlin in 2024. They made up and later joked about the incident, and this season Krebs hasn’t just gotten along with Buffalo’s star players; he’s brought out the best in them.
Krebs has skated 187 minutes at 5-on-5 on a line with Thompson and Alex Tuch, including much of his ice time lately, and the Sabres have outscored opponents 13-7 during those shifts.
“I think the top lines always have that workaholic on it,” Ruff said. “… There’s a guy that will drive it either with speed or intensity, and then your goal scorers pick up that loose change that’s laying around from the shrapnel that this guy has created out on the ice.”
Playing all 74 games of this condensed schedule has taken a toll, Krebs admits, but he’s planning on another 30 or so as part of a lengthy playoff run. The fifth-year Sabre is generating a ton of energy for this team and relishing the energy around it as he gears up for his likely postseason debut.
“I go to the grocery store, and people are excited,” Krebs said. “In years past, you didn’t get that, but that just shows the fans, how excited they are, and that’s a lot of fun. I’m a Buffalonian; I want to do it for these people in the community.
“Last year they’d be like, ‘Oh, it’s Peyton, Sabres.’ Now it’s like, ‘Oh, hey, how’s it going!?’”
Here’s more from Monday’s practice.
