The Buffalo Sabres didn’t exactly shock anyone by bringing back Beck Malenstyn. What raised eyebrows was the length.
General manager Jarmo Kekalainen locked up the winger on a six-year extension worth $17.5 million, keeping him in Buffalo through the 2031-32 NHL season before he could reach unrestricted free agency. Malenstyn, acquired from the Washington Capitals for a second-round draft pick in June 2024, has spent two seasons with the organization and is now tied to the Sabres at a $2.92 million average annual value.
Not everyone sees the deal as a smart allocation of money. Adam Gretz of Bleacher Report handed Buffalo a C- grade and made his skepticism clear.
"But why do you need to sign a depth player like this for six years? These guys are always available and they are always affordable," Gretz wrote.
"There is also not much upside here to be more than what he has already showed himself to be. It's not a terrible contract, but it's the type of little thing where if you make too many of them they eventually add up into a big problem."
That criticism lands because Malenstyn’s game has a pretty defined ceiling. He’s a limited 5-on-5 player, and on a forward group as deep as Buffalo’s, he doesn’t project to climb far beyond the fourth line. His best offensive season came with Washington in 2023-24, when he topped out at 21 points.
Still, the Sabres may be thinking bigger than his current role. There’s a path here to a more important job in 2026-27, especially with the penalty kill in mind.
Since Kekalainen sent Alex Tuch to the Capitals in a sign-and-trade deal, much of the attention has centered on the lost scoring. But Tuch was also second among Buffalo forwards in penalty-killing minutes last season, trailing only Ryan McLeod.
Malenstyn was third.
That matters. At 6-foot-3 and with a physical edge, Malenstyn looks like a strong candidate to move onto the top PK unit with McLeod this season.
If he handles that responsibility and helps absorb the blow of losing Tuch over the long haul, the contract starts to look a lot less burdensome. And with the NHL salary cap climbing, the deal could wind up being a minor issue unless his play falls off.
The other big question in Buffalo is how the bottom six sorts itself out.
Malenstyn is a given on the fourth line, and Peyton Krebs also appears likely to land there. Beyond that, Sam Carrick, Justin Danforth, Tyson Kozak and Conor Sheary are all in the mix. Training camp will be worth watching closely because Buffalo has 10 forwards battling for nine spots on the top three lines, which should create plenty of competition.
That logjam has already fueled speculation that the Sabres might move some extra pieces to upgrade elsewhere, with Winnipeg Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck even floated as a possibility. But nothing has materialized, and now Lindy Ruff and his staff have to sort through the crowd over the next month.
The most workable fourth line, at least on paper, might be Krebs, Carrick and Malenstyn. All three bring defensive reliability, and Carrick adds an element Buffalo could use: faceoff ability.
It may not be that exact combination every night, especially with Ruff’s habit of mixing lines and the inevitable injuries that come over a season. But when the games tighten up late in the year, that trio makes a lot of sense.
Buffalo will start getting answers soon enough against the Columbus Blue Jackets.
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