All the goals Sam Reinhart has been scoring as a winger are making the Buffalo Sabres wonder if Reinhart should, you know... be a winger.
“It does maybe change a little bit with the success that he’s had at wing and the comfort that he has in kind of seamlessly starting there and playing there this year,” head coach Dan Bylsma told the Buffalo News.
“I still think his intelligence of how he plays the game lends itself to being a puck distributor in the middle of the ice, but when you look at a top-six group of forwards or you’re putting lines together, with the success he’s had at wing you kind of feel like being on the wing in a top-six is something maybe he’s been better at for us.”
Reinhart, 20, was drafted second overall in 2014 -- as a center. But with Jack Eichel and Ryan O’Reilly in the mix now, the best way to get the most out of Reinhart may be as a top-six winger.
Don’t forget the Sabres also have 22-year-old Zemgus Girgensons; it’s possible he could be the third-line center of the future.
For now, the Sabres are keeping their options open. O’Reilly is expected to be out a bit longer with an injury, so Bylsma wants Reinhart to “play a few more games at center” before the season is over.
Too many talented, young centers.
It’s not the worst problem to have.