A home not too far away from home
St. Catharines native Sheahan gets chance to play in empty arena near where he grew up
After 7 ⁄ seasons in the National 1
2 Hockey League — the last one, two time zones away — Riley Sheahan is finally getting the chance to play home games close to home.
Unfortunately, with COVID-19 restrictions keeping arenas off-limits to spectators and the Canada-u.s. border closed to all but essential travel, no one from his hometown of St. Catharines will get to see the 29-year-old centre wear No. 38 for the Buffalo Sabres.
With the seven Canadian teams making up their own division and playing exclusively against each other in a national bubble, Sheahan also isn’t expected to play an NHL game in Canada any time soon.
The unrestricted free agent signed a one-year contract worth $700,000 (U.S.) with Buffalo after attending the team’s training camp on a professional tryout contract.
The Sabres, whose nine-year playoff drought is the longest in the league, went into training camp for an abbreviated 202021 season looking for “pros who can lead by example, whether it’s in practice or during games,” said head coach Ralph Krueger.
In a story posted on the team’s website, he said Sheahan fit the bill.
“We need players to do things right,” Krueger said. “I knew in the research we did on Riley that, No. 1, he’s an excellent character.”
That quality has to go handin-hand with a high hockey IQ and on-ice performance, as far as the second-year Sabres bench boss is concerned.
“It’s important that we want people to treat each other right,” he said, “but they also need to bring something on the ice, because good guys aren’t going to help us if they don’t execute within a role.”
Sheahan, who spent three years playing Division 1 hockey at the University of Notre Dame after two seasons in Jr. B with the St. Catharines Falcons, was selected by the Detroit Red Wings in the first round of the 2010 NHL Entry Draft with the 21st pick.
After parts of three campaigns spent in the American Hockey League as a member of the Grand Rapids, Mich., Griffins, the graduate of Denis Morris Catholic High School in St. Catharines went on to score 66 goals and collect 98 assists in 511 regular-season games for the Red Wings, Pittsburgh Penguins, Florida Panthers and Edmonton Oilers.
He added three goals and four assists in 33 playoff games.
Sheahan’s most productive NHL season offensively was 2014-15, when he had 13 goals and 23 assists in 79 games for the Wings.
He netted a career-high 14 goals the following year, also with Detroit.
Last season, the six-footthree, 214-pound left-hand shot led the Oilers in minutes played on the penalty kill. He produced eight goals and seven assists in 66 regular-season games and went scoreless in four post-season contests.
Besides leading Edmonton in short-handed faceoffs, with 210, and defensive-zone draws, 455, Sheahan also ranked second on the team in overall faceoffs, 834, and was third among forwards with 33 blocked shots.
On the penalty kill, his 5.42 goals against per 60 minutes played placed him 15th in the top-100 rankings among NHL forwards.
Sheahan joined Edmonton as an unrestricted free agent on a one-year deal.
Highlights of his hockey career before making his NHL debut April 7, 2012, versus the Chicago Blackhawks, include an AHL Calder Cup championship with Grand Rapids in 2013, when he led all rookies with 16 playoff points.
Sheahan set National Collegiate Athletic Association career highs in goals, with nine, and points, with 25, in his junior year at Notre Dame.
On Thursday night, Buffalo hosts the Washington Capitals in the opening game of a homeand-home series to begin the regular-season schedule, tentatively set at 56 games.