Camp Preview: Buffalo's new additions look to bolster forward group

After a busy offseason that featured the addition of several veterans, including ones with impressive resumes, the Buffalo Sabres will open training camp this week with 21 forwards.
Headlined by captain Jack Eichel, the Sabres will welcome back 13 centers and wings. Eight forwards will be skating in their first camp with Buffalo.
The team's first practice is scheduled for Friday morning at KeyBank Center and will be closed to the public. Today, Sabres.com's coverage of training camp presented by BlueCross BlueShield of Western New York will take a deeper look at the forwards aiming to make the opening night roster.

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New faces

General manager Kevyn Adams started on the job in June and made acquiring support at forward a top priority. He started by trading for Eric Staal, whom he won a Stanley Cup with as teammates in 2006.
He also added free agents Cody Eakin, Tobias Rieder, Steven Fogarty and - in a move that made everyone around the league take notice - former Hart Trophy winner Taylor Hall.
Staal and Eakin should help solidify the center position and provide some additional support for Eichel, who was on pace for a career year before the season was cut short due to the pandemic.

Staal posted 19 goals and 47 points in 66 games last season. At 36 years old, he's shown that he can be both reliable and durable; he's missed just four games over the past five seasons. He's also a proven leader. He served as the captain of the Carolina Hurricanes for seven seasons and has been a captain or alternate captain in 12 of his 16 NHL seasons.
Eakin has skated in 586 NHL games and was an important player in the Vegas Golden Knights' run to the Stanley Cup Final in 2018.
"I find myself, personally, best as a third-line center than can jump up and down a lineup throughout a season when, say, injuries or anything else happens like that, when things change throughout a season," he said after signing in October.
"But my most comfortable is good chemistry with your linemates, playing that style of run and gun and not getting outworked, getting a task at hand and just focus on that, focus on being that role player for a team and providing energy."

Hall signed a one-year contract on October 11 and is keeping open the possibility of signing a new deal in the future. Hall, 28, tallied 52 points (16+36) in 65 games with New Jersey and Arizona last season.
Since entering the league in 2010-11, he ranks 23rd among NHL players in points (563) and 32nd in goals (218). His average of 1.05 points per game over the last three seasons ranks 17th.
Hall won the Hart Trophy as the NHL's most valuable player in 2017-18, when he led New Jersey to the playoffs. That season, he posted career highs in goals (39), assists (54), and points (93).

Returning in royal

The team's top three scorers, Eichel, Sam Reinhart (50 points) and Victor Olofsson (42 points), who were linemates for most of 2019-20, are all back. Reinhart signed a one-year contract this offseason while Olofsson re-upped for two.
The new additions, however, could shake up the lines. Sabres coach Ralph Krueger stressed the need to consistently roll four lines each night.
Other returning forwards who played at least 35 games include Jeff Skinner, Kyle Okposo, Zemgus Girgensons and Curtis Lazar.

Skinner will look to return to his 40-goal form of two years ago and Lazar will look to build on a rebound season that ended with him as the club's Masterton Trophy nominee.
Sabres coach Ralph Krueger said that he's had a lot of good conversations with Skinner over the course of the offseason.
"We looked at a lot of the video from our final 10, 12 games in the last few months, and you could see a lot of good habits coming into Jeff's game," Krueger said. "His offense will grow out of that as he feels comfortable with what we demand from everybody without the puck. I'm excited, as with the group as a whole, to build on what we experienced through the summer and our conversations away from the rink."
Tage Thompson signed a new three-year contract and Casey Mittelstadt, Buffalo's first-round pick in 2017, is back on a one-year deal.
Thompson sustained a season-ending shoulder injury during his first NHL game of the year on November 17 and has been working hard to get back ever since. He was tied for the Amerks' team lead in points at the time of his recall.

Making the push

Training camp will be unique as clubs are allowed to invite 36 skaters and an unlimited number of goaltenders. The AHL is anticipating to begin play on February 5, but start dates for junior leagues like the OHL and WHL are still to be determined.
For the 2020-21 season, each team will feature an active roster of 23 players as well as a taxi squad consisting of 4-6 players. With no preseason games, competition during practice will likely be a big determining factor in who makes the opening night roster.
Mittelstadt, Rasmus Asplund, Andrew Oglevie, C.J.Smith and Brett Murray all logged significant minutes in Rochester last season.
Fogarty posted 37 points as the captain of the Hartford Wolf Pack last year, which would have placed him second in Amerks team scoring. He played in seven games for the New York Rangers a year ago, and also made his NHL postseason debut.
Center Arttu Ruotsalainen was in Buffalo's camp last fall and spent the 2019-20 season playing In Liiga, Finland's top professional league. He recorded 43 points (15+28) in 44 games and stayed hot at the beginning of this year, totaling a league-leading 27 points (16+11) in 19 games for Ilves.
Brandon Biro signed with the Sabres in March after a successful four-year stint at Penn State. He had previously attended Buffalo's summer development camp in 2018.
Riley Sheahan is also a player to watch. The 6-foot-3, 214-pound forward is in Buffalo's camp on a professional tryout contract. Sheahan tallied 15 points (8+7) in 66 games for the Edmonton Oilers last season. He led Edmonton forwards with 2:21 of shorthanded ice time per game on the league's No. 2 penalty kill unit. The 29-year-old veteran has amassed 164 points (66+98) in 513 career games as well as 7 points (3+4) in 33 playoff games.
Three prospects - 2019 first-round pick Dylan Cozens and 2020 selections Jack Quinn (8th overall) and J-J Peterka (34th overall) - are currently competing at the World Junior Championship in Alberta. The tournament is scheduled to run until January 5 and any or all of them could make an appearance at Sabres camp when all is said and done.

When asked about Cozens, Adams said he believes allowing him to play in a compeitive environment like the World Juniors, where he has taken on a leadership role with Team Canada, is extremely beneficial to his development.
"I don't see in any way it impacting in a negative of him coming to Buffalo and his chances [of making the Sabres out of camp], because to be honest with you, he's now had a long runway to be in game shape and playing and competing," Adams said. "So I look at it as a positive."
Cozens currently leads the tournament with seven points through two games.
"It's a great start for him in the World Juniors, and I love the fact that's he's a go-to guy there," Adams said. "I love the fact that he's obviously producing offensively. But what I really enjoyed the other night, in a one-goal game, with a minute-and-a-half to go, he's on the ice when they're up a goal. So it says a lot about his 200-foot game and the coach, obviously, believes in him."

The week ahead

What does the competition look like on defense? Sabres.com will look at the blue line tomorrow. That will be followed by a breakdown of the goaltenders at camp.
Stay tuned for coverage of training camp starting Friday as the team ramps up for the first game of the regular season, which will take place at KeyBank Center on Thursday, January 14 against the Washington Capitals.