Buffalo Sabres: Will Riley Sheahan shake up the roster?

On Wednesday, the Buffalo Sabres brought back an old face in Riley Sheahan to a two-way contact. Will he shake up the lower lines on the roster?

Riley Sheahan signed a $950,000 one-year, prove-it deal with the Buffalo Sabres on Wednesday. Sheahan, 30, will provide much-needed depth at center and he could very well land a spot on the fourth line at the position, or at least in the rotation.

A former first round pick, Sheahan has never quite lived to expectations, but he has shown a knack for winning face-offs at various points in his career. Unfortunately, that did not happen last season during his time with the Seattle Kraken, in which he won just 47% of them.

However, that lack of FOW% was his worst since he won just 45.8 percent of them in 2015-16, and he has exceeded the 54 FOW% three times between 2015-16 and 2021-22. So he has an outside chance to perhaps land the role Cody Eakin had last year.

Will Riley Sheahan stick to the Buffalo Sabres main roster or provide depth in Rochester?

The Sabres are adamant in getting younger and Sheahan is an older face who will turn 31 on December 7th. But he would provide a veteran presence on the fourth line and he could even become a puzzle piece on the penalty kill.

So if Sheahan is on the main roster come October 13th, what does this do for the fourth line? Odds are, it almost guarantees that Zemgus Girgensons, who I had listed as my fourth-line center, will kick back out to winger, where he has more experience. Girgensons would also  most likely become a rotational piece.

Supposing Sheahan makes the roster, here is what my lineup projection would look like:

First Line: Skinner, Thompson, Tuch

Second Line: Krebs, Mittelstadt, Olofsson 

Third Line: Asplund, Cozens, Quinn/Peterka

Fourth Line: Okposo, Sheahan, Girgensons/Hinostroza

I do have a couple more speculative lineups in the making, but here, the first two lines remain unchanged, while Jack Quinn and J.J. Peterka are slated to rotate in and out – note that this lineup pertains to October only, and I do expect the duo to snag full-time spots on the main roster. Finally, Girgensons and Vinnie Hinostroza will further rotate in and out.

Again, this is the lineup assuming Sheahan earns a spot on the main roster and is not reassigned to the AHL. So, will Sheahan shake things up in the lineup? If he proves he can continue to play well in the defensive zone and provide much-needed face-off wins, expect him to be there come October 13th.

Article Source: Sabres bolster depth at center by signing Riley Sheahan to two-way contract by Lance Lysowski

(Statistics provided by Hockey-Reference)