Sometimes the answer is staring right at you. For the Sabres, that has been true in a lot of areas, including the power play, and it may also apply to Peyton Krebs, who is still looking for his first goal of the season after scoring a career-high 12 last year.
Krebs is never going to be mistaken for a pure finisher. His game is built more on pace, pressure and passing than on a big-time shot.
But the numbers point to a very specific problem: 63.2% of his unblocked shot attempts have missed the net this season, according to MoneyPuck. That is the highest mark among Buffalo forwards who have played regularly, and it ranks third among NHL forwards with at least 100 minutes in 2026-27.
This isn’t a brand-new issue, either. Krebs has missed the net on at least 33.3% of his shot attempts in each of the last three seasons, and his previous high was 42.4% in 2024-25. This year, though, the trend has gone into overdrive.
There are a couple of reasons that likely explain it. One is simple: Krebs may be trying to pick corners because he doesn’t have the kind of shot that can beat goalies cleanly from all over the ice. He has only six shots above 70 mph this season, and his hardest shot, 77.1 mph, sits three mph below the NHL average in that category, per NHL EDGE.
The other issue is shot selection. For a player with his profile, too many of Krebs’ attempts are coming from too far out.
He should be living closer to the faceoff dots or lower in the zone, where his chances to create something dangerous are much better. From distance, he just doesn’t have the kind of weapon that makes those looks reliable.
That’s why the fix is so basic: get the puck on net. Even when the shot doesn’t go in, it can still create chaos - a rebound, a deflection, a weird bounce in front. Missing the net wipes all of that away, and it can also turn into an easy transition chance for the other team.
So a simple adjustment in approach could make a real difference for Krebs and for the Sabres when he’s on the ice.
Buffalo has still trusted him in a bigger role when the lineup opens up. Head coach Lindy Ruff has shown a willingness to move Krebs into the top nine whenever injuries or poor play create a vacancy. The Sabres got good results with him alongside Tage Thompson and Alex Tuch during their run last year, and they’ve gone back to that idea again with Jiri Kulich and Konsta Helenius out injured.
That has led to a line of Krebs, Thompson and Zach Benson. The sample is small - just 22 minutes - but it has worked, with Buffalo outscoring opponents 5-0 at 5-on-5 in that stretch, according to Natural Stat Trick.
The Sabres would obviously love to have a true No. 1 center who can settle that spot once and for all, something they’ve been chasing since Jack Eichel left in 2021. Krebs is not that player. But he keeps getting chances because he brings energy, he hunts pucks, and he meshes well with a shoot-first winger like Thompson.
Buffalo has shuffled its forward lines often through 14 games while trying to find more consistency, and more changes could still come as injured players return. Krebs could end up back on the fourth line. Whether he’s skating with Thompson and Benson or with Sam Carrick and Beck Malenstyn, the effort is going to be there.
That part has never been in doubt. If he can just start hitting the net more often, his value could jump in a hurry.
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