BUFFALO – During practices, Sabres coach Lindy Ruff has noticed Peyton Krebs possesses the skill to make what he called “special plays.” Of course, having registered 20 goals and 66 points in his career, the center only occasionally showcases that talent in games.
In Krebs, 23, Ruff sees a player trying to figure things out. When the Vegas Golden Knights drafted him 17th overall in 2019 and the Sabres acquired him almost three years ago in the Jack Eichel trade, they expected he would score someday.
“Sometimes a player will get caught up on, ‘What exactly is my identity?’” Ruff said prior to Thursday’s 3-1 loss to the Los Angeles Kings in the home opener at KeyBank Center. “High draft pick and you look at, ‘How am I gonna fit in as a player?’ So some players have to reinvent themselves.”
Krebs has remade himself by embracing a bottom-six checking role and developing a tenacious style that often irritates opponents. On Thursday, he fought Kyle Burroughs after he hit his linemate, Sam Lafferty, head-first into the boards.
“Sometimes you’re not the same player you were when you got drafted,” Ruff said. “I think right now, he’s in that stage of reinventing his game and of being a valuable asset in how we’re going to use them.
“So far, what I’ve seen, I’ve liked what he’s trying to contribute to the team.”
After sitting out last Friday’s season opener, a 4-1 loss to the New Jersey Devils in Prague, Czechia, Krebs started Saturday’s 3-1 loss as the fourth-line center. When winger JJ Peterka suffered a concussion, he moved around the lineup.
The Sabres’ offseason acquisitions had briefly pushed Krebs out of the lineup before injuries to wingers Zach Benson and Nicolas Aube-Kubel created a spot for him.
Krebs, who signed a two-year, $2.9 million contract last month, said Ruff and assistant coaches told him they liked his game and he would earn an opportunity.
“I’ve been scratched before, so I know mindset has to be right when it comes like that before,” Krebs said. “It started in the training camp, thought I played really well. It definitely isn’t what you want, but at the end of the day, you want what’s best for the team. …
“I trust Lindy and his judgment, and I know as the year goes on here he’s going to give me those opportunities. I’m going to show him I can play in this league.”
Krebs likes Ruff’s bluntness.
“What I like mostly is he’s direct, to the point,” he said. “He knows what he wants out of his guys and he’s gonna get the most out of it.”
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Instead of judging Sabres rookie Jiri Kulich on the 14 minutes he nervously skated Saturday in Czechia, his home country, Ruff thinks back to the youngster’s recent exploits in the Prospect Challenge tournament.
“He’s looking at this (as it’s) my first real shot, there’s some nerves,” Ruff said of the forward’s second NHL game. “What I saw in Prague wasn’t the real Kulich. What we saw in that prospect camp showed me that this kid is going to be a good player in this league, with … the way he shoots, the way he skates.
“He’s a physically strong kid, and admittedly, when I talked to him, he felt a lot of different emotions playing in front of his fans in that country. You got to understand that with a young player. It was his first kind of look at it. You move by that.”
Kulich, 20, had another chance Thursday because Peterka’s concussion sidelined him. Meanwhile, winger Zach Benson returned from a lower-body injury that sidelined him Saturday.
Kulich, a natural center, skated at left wing alongside center Dylan Cozens and Jack Quinn. Benson skated in Peterka’s spot at left wing alongside top center Tage Thompson and Alex Tuch.
Having scored 51 goals for the Rochester Americans over the past two season, Kulich established himself as an elite AHL talent. Even practicing in the NHL can buoy the prospect’s development.
“You practice against NHL competition, you get better,” Ruff said. “If you put the time in, you can get better. There are times when lesser the competition, you get away with more stuff. But he understands how hard the competition is here compared to sometimes what he will face in the American League.”
Ruff said he spoke to Kulich about some of the “great plays” he watched throughout the Prospects Challenge and even in recent practices.
“Some of the times he’s going down on the rush and the puck is off his stick in a split-second,” he said. “So you look at those and you say, ‘That’s a player that I know you can be.’”
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The Amerks, who open their season tonight at home against the Belleville Senators, have named veteran center Mason Jobst captain.
Defensemen Zach Metsa and Ethan Prow and forwards Josh Dunne and Brett Murray were named alternates.
Jobst, 30, replaced Michael Mersch, who recently retired.
Notes: Sabres winger Jason Zucker played his 700th NHL game. … Kings goalie Darcy Kuemper stopped Sabres newcomer Ryan McLeod on a first-period penalty shot. … The Sabres also scratched defensemen Jacob Bryson and Dennis Gilbert (both healthy). Gilbert skated in the pregame warm-up.