The Buffalo Sabres today placed forward Drake Caggiula on injured reserve, per a tweet from the team’s public relations account. Caggiula is week-to-week with an upper-body injury after missing Buffalo’s last game, a 5-1 home loss to the Boston Bruins on Wednesday.
The team recalled forward Brett Murray from the AHL’s Rochester Americans today in his place. Buffalo has shuffled Murray up and down multiple times this season as they’ve faced injuries, but he’s only played one game this season (no points in 11:06 of ice time). Murray’s gotten into nine games with Rochester, however, tallying six goals and one assist.
Caggiula signed a one-year, $750,000 extension with the Sabres this offseason after the team claimed him off waivers from the Arizona Coyotes near the end of the 2020-21 campaign. He’d played in all 18 games this season for which he was healthy, scoring two goals and three assists while averaging nearly 15 minutes a night (a career-high).
At even strength, Caggiula’s line with Dylan Cozens and Vinnie Hinostroza has seen the most ice time of any forward grouping for Buffalo in 2021-22. It looks like Sabres head coach Don Granato will do some line shuffling in Caggiula’s absence, getting Arttu Ruotsalainen back into the lineup.