In this series we build the 2019-20 Buffalo Sabres roster one by one leading up to the season opener on October 3.
RW--Conor Sheary
27 yrs. old
5'8" 176 lbs.
Undrafted free agent, 2015
Career Stats: 262 games | 62 goals | 65 assists | 127 points | +7
Forward Conor Sheary was a tribute to the development process in a very successful Pittsburgh Penguins organization, of which Buffalo Sabres general manager Jason Botterill played a big part. The undrafted college free agent out of UMASS (Amherst) was signed by the Pens in July, 2015 while Botterill was making his way up the managerial ranks and it would prove to be a pretty shrewd signing. Sheary would make his mark with the Wilkes Barre-Scranton Penguins for a season and a half (27 goals and 81 points in 90 games) before getting the call to Pittsburgh for 44 games during the 2015-16 season. The following year he blew up for 53 points (23+30) in 61 games in a season where the Pens would go on to win the first of two consecutive Stanley Cups. However, his production fell off in 2017-18 and he would be traded to the Buffalo Sabres that off season.
While in Pittsburgh as the Penguins associate general manger, Botterill saw a lot of traits he liked in Sheary and pulled the trigger on the deal. Sheary's a good, shifty skater, has good hockey smarts and has the versatility to play either side of center up and down the lineup. Unfortunately, his first season in Buffalo (78 games, 14 goals, 34 points) was similar to his last with the Penguins 79 games, 18 goals, 30 points) which is not what anyone was hoping for.
Was it just the transition to a new team? Was it the fact that the team in general wasn't very good? Or did Sheary fall back to the mean and this is the player Buffalo be getting for the final year of a contract that pays him $3 million?
That's what we'll be finding out this season.
New Sabres head coach Ralph Krueger will be sifting through a lot of options outside Jack Eichel, Jeff Skinner and Sam Reinhart as he tries to fill out the top-six the next month. Marcus Johansson looks to be a lock up there and Jimmy Vesey should make a strong push even though he's more suited to a top-nine role. The wildcard in the mix is 24 yr. old rookie Victor Olofsson who has top-six skills and showed them off in the AHL last season, but still needs to make the jump to the NHL.
One thing we do know is that the left side is full. Skinner tops the left wingers while Johansson has played most of his career there. Vesey has spent most of his three-year career on that side as well and Olofsson played mostly left wing last season. Sheary is a left wing but a spot on the right side might be where he ultimately lands in 2019-20.
Regardless of which side he's on, Sheary needs to do more than what he did last season where he had the third highest offensive zone starts (80.54% according to Natural Stat Trick) on the team but only scored 14 goals on a career-worst 9.5% shooting percentage. If the stated goal in Buffalo is to end their eight-year playoff drought, the team will need more secondary scoring and Sheary will need to contribute more.
The big thing moving forward with Sheary and the Sabres in general is finding chemistry up and down the lineup. Having good players making meaningful contributions in a top-nine role with a salary at the lower end of the spectrum is imperative for any team paying superstars in a cap-world. Sheary was that guy in Pittsburgh three years ago on his entry-level deal and he's entering the final year of a 3yr./$9 million contract extension where he hasn't quite lived up to that price-tag.
Botterill and Krueger have some options at third line right wing (Tage Thompson, Artuu Ruotsolainen, even 2019 first-rounder Dylan Cozens) so Sheary will have plenty of competition. But for now it looks as if he'll be in the top-nine.
Building the 2019-20 Buffalo Sabres roster:
LW, Jeff Skinner / C, Jack Eichel/ RW, Sam Reinhart
LW, Jimmy Vesey / C, Casey Mittelstadt / RW, Marcus Johansson
LW, Victor Olofsson / C, Evan Rodrigues / RW, Conor Sheary
LHD, Rasmus Dahlin / RHD, Brandon Montour
LHD, Jake McCabe / RHD, Rasmus Ristolainen
G, Carter Hutton
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