The Buffalo Sabres on Monday extended qualifying offers to restricted free agents Peyton Krebs and defenseman Olen Zellweger.
Four players – defenseman Zac Jones, Nikita Novikov and Isaac Belliveau and winger Olivier Nadeau – did not receive a qualifying offer, making them free agents.
Krebs, 25, has established himself as one of the Sabres’ most versatile forwards. He’s eligible for arbitration.
The Sabres acquired Zellweger, 22, on Friday in a trade with the Anaheim Ducks. The defenseman is viewed as a replacement for Bowen Byram, who was traded last Tuesday to the Chicago Blackhawks.
Jones, 25, enjoyed a huge season with the Rochester Americans, scoring 10 goals and a team-high 62 points in 60 games. That prolific output earned him the Eddie Shore Award as the AHL’s most outstanding defenseman in 2025-26.
He earned some recalls to Buffalo but never played.
The Sabres last season loaned Novikov, 22, from Rochester to the Ontario Reign, the Los Angeles’ Kings’ AHL affiliate. They drafted him in the sixth round in 2021, 188th overall.
Nadeau, 23, spent all last season in Rochester, scoring 13 goals and 26 points in 56 games. The Sabres drafted him in the fourth round in 2021, 97th overall.
The Sabres acquired Belliveau, 23, last year in a trade with the Pittsburgh Penguins that brought defenseman Conor Timmins to Buffalo.