The first transaction going into the trade deadline from the Sabres was not one that was expected.
The Sabres claimed LW/C Drake Caggiula from the Arizona Coyotes today. Caggiula has 1 goal and 7 points in 27 games with the Coyotes this year. The 26 year old is a pending unrestricted free agent at the end of the year and comes with a 700k cap hit.
You may remember Caggiula from his stint with the Sabres in the 2014 summer as a development camp invite. Also, the Sabres were rumored to be in the sweepstakes to sign Caggiula after he graduated from North Dakota in the spring of 2016 before he ultimately chose the Edmonton Oilers to sign with.
Don’t know how to read into this, but he won’t be joining the Sabres right away as we are not chartering him a flight to Buffalo.
Granato said he will fly commercial, so he will have to quarantine. Tokarski in goal
— Paul Hamilton (@pham1717) April 9, 2021
From an advanced stat perspective: he’s struggled mightily this year with the Coyotes.
As the trade deadline approaches on Monday I expect this transaction to be the first of many for the Sabres.