Peyton Krebs signs multi-year deal and avoids arbitration.

The Buffalo Sabres have just signed one of their restricted free agents to a lucrative deal, and it may be a sign of a current trend in the National Hockey League.

On Monday, the Sabres announced that they had come to terms on a 4 year contract extension with forward Peyton Krebs. The deal will carry an average annual value and salary cap hit of $4.5 million per season, a significant price tag for a bottom 6 type of player.

Krebs will also benefit from trade protection in this deal which will complicate any potential future trades, with a 7 team no trade clause included in the final 2 years of this new deal.

Krebs has been a valuable player for the Sabres and is coming off of his best season at 25 years old with 12 goals and 27 assists for 39 points in 82 games this past season. The Sabres likely also view keeping Krebs in the fold as an important piece of business as he is the only asset the Sabres still have from the Jack Eichel trade, unless you count forward Noah Ostlund who was selected with the pick the Sabres acquired in that trade deal.

It may be a bit pricey for Krebs but it helps the Sabres avoid a potentially ugly arbitration process. It may also be the case that teams in the NHL will be much more careful about how they handle their restricted free agents following how tough RFA negotiations blew up in catastrophic fashion for the Anaheim Ducks this summer courtesy of a brutal offer sheet.