What could the Buffalo Sabres forward lineup look like in January?

The Buffalo Sabres traded for Eric Robinson yesterday, and he joins a team missing a few key forwards. So what will they look like when healthy?

The Buffalo Sabres acquired Eric Robinson to try and alleviate some defensive and penalty kill issues with Zemgus Girgensons and Jordan Greenway shelved, but they will eventually get healthy again. And if the Blue and Gold have shown us anything to be positive about over the past two seasons, it’s that they can be one of the league’s better teams when they have their key players on the ice.

So what might the Sabres look like when Jack Quinn, Alex Tuch, and Jordan Greenway return, likely in January at the latest with the latter two slated to come back sooner? What will Eric Robinson’s role look like when the aforementioned trio returns? These are valid questions, and they deserve some leeway.

What might a healthy group of forwards look like for the Buffalo Sabres?

While we know head coach Don Granato will experiment with different lineups once the inevitable occurs, we can at least post an educated guess based on what we have seen recently. Therefore, the projected lineup with Robinson and when the others (sans Girgensons) are back may look like this:

• Skinner – Tage – Tuch
• Benson – Mittelstadt – Peterka
• Greenway – Cozens – Quinn
• Robinson – Krebs – Okposo
• Jost – Olofsson

As you can see, this was a tough decision, and those listed as extras – Jost and Olofsson – could easily rotate in, with Jost likely taking on a winger role on the fourth line, and Olofsson on the middle-six. Isak Rosen, who is still with the team at the time of this writing, returns to Rochester.

The Tage line once again returns to normal when Tuch is back, and Casey Mittelstadt centers Zach Benson and JJ Peterka, while Dylan Cozens and Jordan Greenway forge a line of physical and two-way players who can score on the third.

The fourth line looks unchanged, at least until Zemgus Girgensons returns. But until more information is available regarding his injury, we don’t know how long he will be out. We should, however, get a general timetable at some point next week.

Source: A busy morning skate: Tage Thompson returns for Sabres, Patrick Kane won’t play for Red Wings by Mike Harrington, Buffalo News