Day 6 Notebook | Sheahan seeks 'specialist' role with Sabres

Riley Sheahan grew up in St. Catharines, Ontario, the site of Sabres training camps until the mid-2000s and less than an hour drive from Buffalo. He sometimes made the trip over the border to watch the hardest working team in hockey.
"I'll be honest, I was a little bit of a Leafs fan but Sabres tickets were more affordable and a little closer," Sheahan admitted Thursday. "I grew up coming here watching Mike Peca and Dominik Hasek and Chris Drury, Curtis Brown, all those guys. I really enjoyed the Sabres."
That "soft spot" for the team was one piece of Sheahan's decision to attend camp with the Sabres on a professional tryout. The other was the pitch he received from coach Ralph Krueger.

Krueger outlined to Sheahan what his role would be if he were to earn a contract and described the culture he was working on creating in Buffalo, with off-the-ice character translating to team success.
"Everything he said on the phone has added up to how training camp's been," Sheahan said. "It's just been a great atmosphere here. You feel free playing on the ice, you feel loose, but at the same time, there's a strategy set in place that holds everyone accountable. It's been a lot of fun."
Sheahan, 29, is on his fourth organization in four seasons after spending the first six years of his career with Detroit, the team that drafted him in the first round in 2010. His most recent stop was Edmonton, where he tallied 15 points (8+7) in 66 games in 2019-20.

Both Krueger and general manager Kevyn Adams have emphasized their vision of deepening the lineup with specialized role players, a mission that guided their offseason additions. Curtis Lazar was an example of that philosophy in 2019-20, when he carved out a full-time role with 5-on-5 physicality, contributions on the penalty kill, and faceoff wins to start overtimes.
Additions were made with specific jobs in mind, from top-line scorer (Taylor Hall) to bottom-six penalty killer (Tobias Rieder). The fact that both roles are valued equally by the coaches in Buffalo was a point Krueger emphasized to Sheahan on their call.
"The conversation was clearly about the specialists that we have and the respect for specialists we have here in Buffalo, that players that play roles for us that maybe aren't as sexy for the outside world or aren't measurable with statistics are extremely important for us to build a winning culture here," Krueger said.
"… We need players to just do things right. We need pros that can lead by example, whether it's in practice or then during games. I knew in the research we did on Riley that number one, he's an excellent character. … It's important that we want people to treat each other right, but also they need to bring something on the ice because good guys aren't going to help us if they don't execute within a role."
Krueger cited Sheahan's faceoff ability, penalty killing, and defensive commitment as areas that could earn him a contract over the next seven days, particularly given the absence of Zemgus Girgensons.
"I think I've sort of found the mindset that's going to work for me and I've been feeling it at camp here," Sheahan said. "I've been enjoying it."
Now, onto more notes from Day 6 of Sabres camp.

Sabres take first power-play reps

Here's how the two units lined up, with Kyle Okposo alternating in for Colin Miller on some reps and players at times alternating positions.

The drills themselves were passing-based with no opposition, but Krueger said the conversation regarding special teams picked up today in both pre- and post-practice meetings. The coach has already thought ahead to what the condensed schedule could mean for the power play, including a more even ice-time split between the two units.
"The most important thing is to have a hunger to shoot and stay simple," he said. "I think complication is an opponent of power plays early on in the season and we need to have a real hunger to create pressure on the net, quick puck movement.
"We don't restrict the genius in those groups, both of them quite exciting when you look at them. We feel we have the personnel now to have two power-play units, which is important in the game today and also with the pace that we're on."

Thursday's practice

The groups remained the same, though that is likely to change Friday. Krueger said that first-round picks Dylan Cozens and Jack Quinn are both expected to join the team provided they clear testing protocols.
Here's how the Sabres lined up Thursday:
Gold group
4 Taylor Hall - 9 Jack Eichel - 68 Victor Olofsson
53
Jeff Skinner
- 12
Eric Staal
- 23
Sam Reinhart
13 Tobias Rieder - 20 Cody Eakin - 21 Kyle Okposo
38 Riley Sheahan - 27
Curtis Lazar
- 72
Tage Thompson
74 Rasmus Asplund - 37
Casey Mittelstadt
- 25 Arttu Ruotsalainen
19
Jake McCabe
- 55
Rasmus Ristolainen
26
Rasmus Dahlin
- 62
Carter Hutton
33
Colin Miller
- 10
Henri Jokiharju
44
Matt Irwin
- 88
Brandon Davidson
3 William Borgen
35 Linus Ullmark
40 Carter Hutton
34
Jonas Johansson
Blue group
Forwards:
Steven Fogarty
,
C.J. Smith
,
Andrew Oglevie
,
Brett Murray
,
Brandon Biro
Defensemen:
Casey Fitzgerald
, Ryan Jones,
Mattias Samuelsson
,
Jacob Bryson
Goalies: Michael Houser,
Dustin Tokarski