Sabres forward Alex Tuch will be activated off injured reserve and return to the lineup tonight against the Avalanche, head coach Don Granato said earlier Wednesday. Winger Brett Murray was assigned to AHL Rochester later in the day to create roster space to activate Tuch, per a team release.
Tuch’s return marks the end of a four-game absence due to a lower-body injury sustained on December 3 against the Predators. The Sabres promptly announced Tuch was expected out of the lineup for roughly one week, just long enough to be eligible for IR placement. It’s the winger’s second multi-game absence of the season after an upper-body injury sidelined him for three games in November. Before exiting the lineup, Tuch had two goals and four points in his last five games and has eight goals and 17 points in 22 games on the season.
The move also ends Murray’s first call-up of the 2023-24 season, which lasted just two days. He replaced the younger Isak Rosen in the lineup Monday in the team’s win against the Coyotes, recording a -1 rating and one shot on goal in 10:41 of ice time. The 25-year-old Murray, who stands at 6-foot-5 and nearly 230 pounds, has two goals and seven points in 12 games with AHL Rochester this season.
Elsewhere from around the Sabres today:
- Also returning to the lineup tonight is defenseman Mattias Samuelsson, per Granato. No corresponding roster move is needed because Sameulsson remained on the active roster while sidelined with an undisclosed injury, which Granato described as general soreness earlier in the week. Samuelsson did not suit up Monday against the Coyotes, his fourth injury-related absence of the season after he missed three games with a lower-body injury in early November. The shutdown blueliner has three points in 25 games this season and is averaging 20:12 per game, nearly two minutes down from last season’s average – although that number is artificially low due to Samuelsson exiting games early with injuries this season on multiple occasions.
- One player absent from tonight’s contest will be forward Jordan Greenway, missing his sixth straight game with an upper-body injury. He did travel with the team on their road trip, but as Lance Lysowski of The Buffalo News reports, he’s not expected to play, which would mean also missing games Friday in Vegas and Saturday in Arizona. He remains on injured reserve for the time being and hasn’t played since leaving the team’s December 2 contest against the Hurricanes prematurely. He’s played in two of Buffalo’s last ten games, missing a trio of contests in November for personal reasons. The 26-year-old has seven points in 21 games in his first full season as a Sabre.