Sabres Recall Brett Murray, Send Isak Rosén Down
The Buffalo Sabres have recalled winger Brett Murray to the NHL club and sent rookie Isak Rosén to the minors. Rosén has appeared in his first seven NHL games since being recalled on November 25th, failing to score a point and recording a -3.
Rosén started the season with the AHL’s Rochester Americans, scoring eight goals and 19 points through his first 16 games with the club. Rosén remains the team’s top scorer, even after missing four games because of his NHL stint. He’s paced by Jiří Kulich, who has managed 13 goals and 19 points of his own through 19 AHL games. Kulich received his NHL debut on the same night as Rosén but was sent back to the minors shortly after. Both players are former first-round selections by Buffalo, with Rosén being drafted 14th overall in the 2021 NHL Draft and Kulich going 28th overall in the 2022 NHL Draft. With the debut of Kulich and Rosén, the Sabres have now seen every first-round selection they’ve made since 2017 suit up for them at some point this year – save for winger Jack Quinn, who is working back from Achille’s tendon surgery and Noah Ostlund, who remains in Sweden.
Filling in for Rosén is AHL veteran Brett Murray, who currently has two goals and seven points through 12 games with the Rochester Americans. The scoring brings his career AHL totals up to 217 games played, 58 goals, and 132 points. Murray appeared in 21 NHL games between the 2020-21 and 2021-22 seasons, playing in 19 games and scoring six points in the latter campaign. The Sabres originally drafted Murray 99th overall in the 2016 NHL Draft, selecting him out of the CCHL before his pursued a career in the USHL and NCAA’s Big 10.
Waivers: 10/04/23
10/05/23: Per Sportsnets’ Elliotte Friedman, all players on the waiver wire yesterday have cleared (X Link).
10/04/23: Teams continue to trim their rosters ahead of the regular season, which starts in just six days. That means multiple players will hit the waiver wire daily until opening night rosters are due, and today is no different. Per TSN’s Chris Johnston, 12 players were waived today at 1 p.m. CT, 11 of whom have NHL experience. As a reminder, a waiver placement is a prerequisite for qualified players for assignment to the AHL but not necessarily an indication that a demotion to the minors will immediately happen. NHL teams can send a player down to the minors within 30 days or 10 games played of the date the player originally cleared waivers. After that time, their waiver clock will reset, and they will need to clear again.
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Buffalo Sabres Make Several Roster Moves
December 11: The Sabres announced that they have returned Murray on loan to Rochester after yesterday’s recall. Murray did not play in last night’s loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins and has not played in the NHL since last season, though he has been impactful as a member of the Americans.
December 10: The Buffalo Sabres have announced four roster moves in advance of tonight’s game against the Pittsburgh Penguins. First, they placed defenseman Henri Jokiharju and forward Vinnie Hinostroza on injured reserve. To fill those two roster spots, the team recalled forward Brett Murray and defenseman Kale Clague from their AHL affiliate, the Rochester Americans.
Per Sabres coach Don Granato, as relayed by Noted Hockey’s Joe Yerdon, Jokiharju is out week-to-week with a lower-body injury. That’s a major loss for the Sabres as they look to climb back into the Wild Card race.
While Jokiharju’s offensive production (four points in 16 games) isn’t anything to write home about, he was playing over 20 minutes per night (fourth-most on the Sabres) and playing nearly three minutes on the penalty kill per game on the Sabres’ top penalty kill unit.
In Jokiharju’s place, the Sabres bring up Clague, who they signed this offseason to a one-year, $750K two-way deal. Clague has split time between Buffalo and Rochester this year, scoring six points in 14 AHL games and one point in seven NHL games.
In his NHL action so far this year Clague has played just under 16 minutes a night with no penalty-killing time, meaning Granato will need to look to his current stable of blueliners to fill the void left by Jokiharju’s injury.
Hinostroza, 28, is placed on injured reserve just a week after Granato said, per The Buffalo News’ Lance Lysowski, that he had been nursing a day-to-day minor injury. The former Chicago Blackhawk has eight points in 15 games so far this season while playing in a limited role.
He’ll be replaced on the roster by Murray. The 24-year-old was a 2016 fourth-round pick of the Sabres out of the CCHL’s Carleton Place Canadians and signed in Buffalo after a two-year collegiate career as a Penn State Nittany Lion, as well as a final year in the USHL in 2018-19. Murray has nine goals and 15 points in 22 AHL games so far this year and scored six points in 19 NHL games last season.
Buffalo Sabres Sign Brett Murray
The Buffalo Sabres have signed restricted free agent forward Brett Murray to a one-year contract worth $750K for the 2022-23 season. He was eligible for arbitration but did not file by yesterday’s deadline, suggesting that a deal was close.
Murray, 23, was a fourth-round pick of the Sabres in 2016, an interesting blend of size and skill that hadn’t played above the CCHL level. His development was a slow process, going through the USHL, two unsuccessful years at Penn State, back to the USHL, and then two years in the minor leagues, before becoming a semi-regular with the Sabres last season.
In 19 NHL games, he scored two goals and six points while racking up 23 penalty minutes, using that 6’5″ frame to his advantage. With a strong performance in the minor leagues as well, there’s a real chance that Murray could secure a roster spot this season with the Sabres, at least as a bottom-six option for head coach Don Granato.
One thing that will hurt that chase is the fact that despite being arbitration-eligible, Murray is still waiver-exempt. He can be sent to the minor leagues without issue, meaning he may end up with Rochester to start the year as the Sabres figure out their optimal lineup. Still, with the focus on players like Dylan Cozens, Peyton Krebs, and Jack Quinn (not to mention Matthew Savoie, Jiri Kulich, and Noah Ostlund) as the future up front in Buffalo, a player like Murray could quickly become a valuable piece to fit lower in the lineup.