Derek Grant is headed back to Buffalo. The Nashville Predators had claimed Grant from the Sabres earlier this season, but after addressing their need for grit by trading for Cody McLeod and more recently Vernon Fiddler, Grant became expendable. The Predators placed Grant on waivers yesterday and the Buffalo News now reports that his former team has picked him up. If the Sabres were the only team to put a claim in on Grant, they now have the flexibility to reassign him to the AHL over the next 30 days if they so choose, as the team that previously placed him on waivers. Grant has four assists this season, three in 35 games with Buffalo and one in six appearances with Nashville. The 26-year-old grinder is far from an NHL-caliber offensive contributor, but is a capable of being a reliable energy line player and isn’t afraid to drop the gloves.
In other news around the league:
- A day after sending Karl Stollery to the AHL’s Albany Devils, New Jersey has recalled the defenseman. John Moore has begun skating with the team, but is not ready to return to action. Stollery provides a good option for blue line depth in the meantime. He has three assists in nine games for the Devils this season, while logging over 16 minutes of ice time per game.
- The Nashville Predators have swapped goaltenders with their AHL affiliate, sending Juuse Saros to Milwaukee and recalling Marek Mazanec. Saros is 5-3-2 with the Predators, and has an excellent 0.941 SV% and 1.79 GAA. In the AHL, he’s 12-2 with a 0.932 SV% and 1.92 GAA. Meanwhile Mazanec has struggled this season, with two losses in four appearances with the Predators. He has a rough 0.839 SV% and a 4.72 GAA. He’s been a little better with the AHL’s Admirals, going 12-10 with a 0.910 SV% and a 2.61 GAA.
- The Vancouver Canucks have demoted forward Brendan Gaunce to Utica of the AHL. The former first round pick has five assists in 47 games with the Canucks. He had just one goal in 20 games last season, but has been much better with the Comets, scoring 17 goals and 38 points in 46 games last season. The Canucks will need Gaunce to pick up his offensive game if he’s going to be an impact player like he was in the OHL where he scored 236 points in 258 games.
- Forwards Timo Meier and Marcus Sorensen have been recalled to the San Jose Sharks. Meier has four points in 21 games with the Sharks and 15 points in 18 games with the Barracuda, while Sorensen has 27 points in 39 games at the AHL.
- In a corresponding move, the Sharks have also assigned Tim Heed and Kevin Labanc to the AHL, as per Kevin Kurz of CSN.
Pro Hockey Rumors’ Zach Leach contributed to this post.