It’s a hefty raise for Beck Malenstyn, who just played the final season of a two-year contract worth $1.35 million per year. Minas Panagiotakis / Getty Images
June 29, 2026 Updated 8:01 am EDT
BUFFALO, N.Y. — The Buffalo Sabres are bringing back Beck Malenstyn.
After losing Alex Tuch and Bowen Byram last week, the Sabres re-signed Malenstyn to a six-year contract worth $2.9167 million per year, league sources told The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun, speaking anonymously because the deal isn’t finalized. The extension carries a total value of $17.5 million.
That’s a hefty raise for Malenstyn, who just played the final season of a two-year contract worth $1.35 million per year. Last season, Malenstyn had seven goals and seven assists in 81 games. But he also set a Sabres franchise record for hits, averaged 1:43 of penalty-kill time per game and blocked 64 shots. The 28-year-old recorded the fastest top speed in the NHL this season and has become a tone-setting forechecker for the Sabres the last two years.
At the end of the season, Malenstyn made it clear he wanted to stick around in Buffalo and build on what the team accomplished.
“I’ve really enjoyed my time here, I think is the biggest thing,” Malenstyn said. “I’ve loved the city. The passion that we saw this season was just incredible, to be a part of the group, the character. I think we’ve really started to build something special here, and the job’s not finished, either. I think that’s the biggest thing. We’ve put ourselves in a spot now of understanding what we can accomplish, creating a culture that way and creating an expectation within ourselves.”
While a six-year contract worth nearly $3 million seems rich for a fourth liner, we will probably see more of these types of deals around the NHL with the salary cap rising. The Sabres saw a lot of leadership walk out the door last week in Tuch and Byram, so retaining Malenstyn was important. And because he’s still 28, the risk of six years isn’t significant. Malenstyn is one of Buffalo’s hardest-working players, and his style of game should age well.
The Sabres now have just over $10 million in cap space, according to PuckPedia. Peyton Krebs and Olen Zellweger are the two key restricted free agents they still have to sign.
This story will be updated.
Jun 29, 2026
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