Since the beginning of his tenure with the Buffalo Sabres, head coach Don Granato has received a great deal of praise for his approach to player development. Said praise has been largely deserved. Nearly every young asset on the team has made notable developmental progress over the past two seasons with him at the helm.

One player who has perhaps come along a bit less noticeably is Peyton Krebs. On paper, the fact that he’s producing points at a lesser clip compared to last season might raise concern. As a forward who is lauded as an excellent playmaker, his inability to appear on the score sheet with any degree of frequency, could be viewed as a detriment.

The reality, however, is that the coaching staff has taken a rather unorthodox (yet effective) approach to Krebs’ development. Let’s take a look at how he’s been utilized compared to last season, and examine how the changes in deployment have impacted his game as a whole.

2021-22 Usage

After coming into the organization as part of the trade that sent Jack Eichel to the Vegas Golden Knights, Krebs started in the AHL as a member of the Rochester Americans. It didn’t take long for him to receive a call-up to Buffalo where he appeared in 48 contests to close out the 2021-22 season.

During that time, Krebs was used primarily as a middle-six winger. His most common linemates were Dylan Cozens, Vinnie Hinostroza, and Victor Olofsson. Generally speaking, Krebs struggled alongside his fellow offensively-inclined contemporaries on the de facto third line.

As one of the youngest teams in the NHL, the Sabres didn’t have the luxury of letting Krebs develop his NHL game alongside reliable five-on-five scoring forwards. As a result, he floundered for a good majority of the year and didn’t show a whole lot of progress.

Since the Sabres brought back virtually every forward from last season (save for a couple of rookie promotions for Jack Quinn and JJ Peterka), a different approach was required. Fortunately, Granato recognized this early in the 2022-23 campaign.

A New Approach

The prospect of playing an offensively dynamic youngster on a defensive checking line tends to draw chagrin from the fan base. In some cases, that reaction is justified. Ultimately, the viability of the said approach is dependent on skillset and position.

There’s a reason I wrote a whole article explaining why I was against the idea of using a player like Quinn in a similar role. As a scoring winger whose offensive output was largely predicated on a strong transition game, having two dump-and-chase linemates like Kyle Okposo and Zemgus Girgensons seemed senseless and the results reflected that.

Krebs is a different story. Let’s dive into why that is, and how placing him with Girgensons and Okposo (two players with a history of defensive success) has created a positive effect that hasn’t been reflected on the scoresheet.

The first and most easily identifiable factor here is the position change. Since playing primarily on the wing last season, Krebs has spent nearly all of his time down the middle in 2022-23. This has created a line where both veteran entities are playing their natural positions.

The change in position has also helped Krebs exemplify part of his natural skillset that is perhaps difficult to identify with the naked eye (especially before this season). Despite his smallish frame, Krebs is a player with a penchant for forechecking and puck retrieval.

As you can see from the chart above from All Three Zones, he has exhibited an extremely high rate of forecheck pressures this season. Though his recovery rate is relatively low, his willingness to engage is a good start. What I want to draw attention to, however, is the progress he’s made defensively.

On a team that has largely struggled defensively, Krebs has been part of the solution in that regard. He is currently one of, if not the best puck-retrieval and zone-exit forward on the team. This element of his game was not nearly as recognizable in his role as a winger last season.

Part of the reason for that was the presence of Dylan Cozens, who is a solid two-way centerman in his own right. His presence perhaps reduced how often Krebs was expected to utilize this skill as opposed to waiting to receive outlet passes on the counter-rush.

While his offensive microstats (and counting stats in general) have left a lot to be desired, it’s to be expected. While Krebs does a great job at commissioning the counter-rush, his offensive skillset is best optimized with linemates who excel in transition. Girgensons and Okposo do not exactly fit the criteria.

In a way, the Sabres have elected to develop Krebs in an unorthodox way. Instead of positioning him to maximize his abilities as a playmaker, they have instead emphasized his two-way development in favor of increasing his scoring production. With most young offensive entities, it’s usually the scoring acumen that comes first, followed by defensive development as they get older.

Closing Thoughts

The approach I’ve outlined isn’t exactly a novel concept in the scope of Granato’s development approach, particularly when it comes to young centers. Cozens himself spent a significant amount of time centering Okposo and Rasmus Asplund last season, likely in pursuit of the same goal.

This should come as a breath of fresh air. Prioritizing two-way development right off the bat is a good approach, assuming the player has the building blocks to progress in such a role. In Cozens’ case, the results have been extraordinarily evident year-over-year as he has become the Sabres’ most well-rounded pivot.

Hopefully, Krebs will experience the same outcome. It’s interesting to see him receive something of a lineup promotion as Granato has shuffled his lines as of late. In all likelihood, the coaching staff wants to see how the time spent with Okposo and Girgensons can translate to one of the team’s scoring lines.

Krebs is currently centering Casey Mittelstadt and Jack Quinn. If he can continue to prove effective as a defensive entity alongside two players who tend to do their best work on the counter-rush, perhaps we’ll see a base-statistical uptick to go along with the progress Krebs has made defensively.

While I’d never draw anything resembling a conclusion after one game against a bad team, their debut as a trio was excellent. In Tuesday’s contest against the Anaheim Ducks, the Mittelstadt-Krebs-Quinn line contributed a team-best xGF rate of 86.24%.

Hopefully, Granato keeps the three of them together for a long enough stretch to properly gauge Krebs’ progress as a line-driving two-way center. If nothing else, it will be an interesting storyline to monitor down the stretch.

Charts courtesy of All Three Zones and Evolving Hockey
Advanced Metrics courtest of Natural Stat Trick and Evolving Hockey

Photo Credit: Brian Fluharty-USA TODAY Sports