After being placed on waivers last Thursday by the Arizona Coyotes, Drake Caggiula found out 24 hours later that he had been claimed by the Buffalo Sabres.
The 26-year-old was not having a great season in the desert, with just one goal and six assists for seven points in 27 games with the Coyotes. If he had cleared waivers, the move would have allowed the Coyotes to either place Caggiula on the taxi squad or assign him to the Tuscon Roadrunners of the American Hockey League.
Instead, Caggiula found himself heading to Buffalo to join the last place Sabres, who had the first rights of claiming the fifth-year veteran of the National Hockey League.
"I think it's a great opportunity for myself," Caggiula said during his introductory Zoom conference call with the Buffalo media on Wednesday. "You never want to be put on waivers or anything like that, but being claimed this late in the season with the circumstances with [COVID-19] and all that sort of stuff; It's a little bit more of a difficult situation, but it's obviously a big opportunity for me to come in and showcase what I'm able to do. Hopefully my style of play will suit the way the team wants to play, and I can really fit in with the group here. Who knows what's going to happen for next season during the offseason, but this is definitely an opportunity for me to step in and showcase what I'm capable of doing."
At the start of the 2020-21 season, Caggiula was a regular in the Coyotes lineup after signing late with the team in free agency to a one-year deal worth the league-minimum of $700,000.
Caggiula played in the team's first 11 games of the season, where he put up five assists and registered 17 shots on goal in 12:43 of average ice-time, before exiting the lineup for five games due to injury. When he came back, Caggiula was not so much a regular in the lineup, and over the course of the next 16 games, he only put up two more points (1+1) and 14 shots on goal in 12:15 of average ice-time.
In the first half of his season, Caggiula felt that he was generating quality scoring chances, but the puck luck just wan't going his way.
"I probably had two or three Grade A scoring chances a game, and I just, for whatever reason, wasn't capitalizing on it," Caggiula explained. "Some years they go in, some years they don't, and some years you score a goal off someone's skate. That's just the way hockey works. You don't always get the bounces or whatever, but the opportunities were there. It wasn't for a lack of opportunities, which is a positive that I can take from it."
When Caggiula came back from his injury in mid-February, he felt that the rhythm of his game was gone.
"I was in-and-out of the lineup every couple of games, and that was a little bit difficult for me to find my footing again and find that rhythm that, as a hockey player, you're always looking for," Caggiula said. "If you can find consistency, whether it's linemates or consistently being in the lineup, it allows you to be a little bit more confident in yourself. I think when I missed a couple of those chances early on, I kind of lost a little bit of confidence... Overall, I wasn't upset about the way I was playing. It's just one of those things where I could be better, and I always want to be better. Doesn't matter how good I was playing."
Caggiula's name should sound familiar to some Sabres fans. If it doesn't, he was a participant at the team's development camp back in 2014, where he stood out in the crowd and made a name for himself as a camp invitee.
"Looking back at 2014, that was kind of my first sniff of NHL experience," Caggiula said of his time back then. "Obviously being undrafted, that was my first introduction tot he NHL, and it was a good stepping stone for me. Being a free agent, I wanted to have a good camp and kind of put my name on the radar for whatever teams in the future would hopefully want to sign me. I thought I had a really good camp, and I remember being part of that 3-on-3 tournament, which my team ended up winning, which was pretty cool. I just think it was a great introduction for me to get my feet wet with the NHL experience."
That experience at Sabres development camp helped earn Caggiula the attention of many over the course of his junior and senior seasons at the University of North Dakota. In his final two years of college hockey in Grand Forks, he combined to score 43 goals and register 44 assists for 87 points in 81 games played.
In his senior season, Caggiula produced well with 25 goals and 26 assists, while helping North Dakota to a 2016 NCAA title. He was named the Most Outstanding Player of the NCAA Tournament, while also earning NCHC First All-Star Team honors for his play throughout the year.
Heading into the summer of 2016, Caggiula was a highly-sought after college free agent, and garnered interest from a number of NHL teams. In the end, he decided to sign an entry-level deal with the Edmonton Oilers, but not before circling back to the team that helped him get that first look.
"I was pretty close [to signing with the Sabres]," Caggiula said. "I came here for a visit amongst a few other teams, and I had some loyalty to Buffalo, because they gave me my first opportunity. I ultimately chose Edmonton for different reasons. I think it's pretty funny how you come full circle, and I ended up here now."
During his NHL career, Caggiula has shifted from playing center to wing, with the past few seasons being primarily spent on the wing. In 249 career NHL games with the Oilers, Chicago Blackhawks and Coyotes, Caggiula has found success playing in all sorts of roles, scoring 42 goals and amassing 41 assists for 83 points.
That sort of versatility has allowed Caggiula the opportunity to stick around in the NHL as long as he has.
"If you're not one-dimensional, it gives the coaches a lot of different options," Caggiula said. "I played center for my first year or so in the NHL. I played center all the way up until the NHL. Once you play center, you kind of understand how to play all the other positions. Throughout my time in the NHL, I've played left wing, right wing, first line, fourth line, everything in-between, power play, penalty kill; It's one of those things where growing up, I was put into those situations all the time, and I think I just really learned how to play in those type of situations.
"Being versatile has allowed me to one: get to the NHL, and two: stay here, because if I was supposed to be a first line guy all the time and my numbers aren't what they're supposed to be, you might not be having a job anymore."
As of right now, Caggiula is currently serving his quarantine period before he is allowed to join the Sabres and play in any games. Caggiula believes that his last COVID-19 test is set to come on Saturday morning, and hopes to be able to join the rest of the group come Sunday. However, he is uncertain if he will be in the lineup for Sunday's 3 p.m. ET matchup with the Pittsburgh Penguins at KeyBank Center.
If Caggiula is able to play Sunday, he will have a maximum of 12 games available to play in before the end of the 2020-21 season for the Sabres.
While it has been nearly seven years since the last time Caggiula was in Buffalo taking part in team activities with the Sabres, there are a couple of connections he has with the current roster.
First, he took part in the same development camp as forwards Sam Reinhart and Victor Olofsson, who were just recently drafted by the Sabres in the 2014 NHL Draft. Defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen and goalie Linus Ullmark were also part of the roster that took part in that development camp in Buffalo.
Second, his interim head coach in Buffalo, Don Granato, spent some time with Caggiula in Chicago when he served as an assistant coach first under current Florida Panthers head coach, Joel Quenneville, then under current Blackhawks head coach, Jeremy Colliton.
While the time spent together in Chicago was not long, Caggiula believes that having the familiarity with Granato will be helpful in his transition to the Sabres with just about a dozen games remaining in the season.
"The energy he brought on and off the ice, and the energy I brought on and off the ice kind of mixed well together," Caggiula said. "If I made a big hit, blocked a shot or scored a goal, he was always one of the first people to come running down the bench and give you that positive encouragement. I think that really goes well for me. I like having feedback, good or bad. I think communication is a big thing, and he was obviously big on that."
"Just speaking to him earlier this week about the style that the team wants to play, I think it's really going to benefit with the way that I play the game, and I'm really looking forward to getting started and re-uniting with him, as well."
While Caggiula remains back in Buffalo quarantining, the Sabres are in Washington, D.C. preparing for a Thursday night matchup with the Capitals at Capital One Arena.
Following Wednesday's practice, Granato was asked for any update regarding goalie Linus Ullmark's lower-body injury suffered in Tuesday night's 3-2 shootout loss to the Boston Bruins. However, the interim head coach did not have any new information to present.
Granato also did not have any new information on the progression of backup goalie Carter Hutton, who is rehabbing a lower-body injury and is still considered week-to-week.
The Sabres announced on Wednesday that Jack Eichel's 2020-21 season is officially over as he is dealing with a herniated disk in his neck. Sportsnet hockey insider Elliotte Friedman reports that Eichel will have surgery to repair the damage to his neck and then begin preparations for the 2021-22 season.
When asked about the potential need for surgery, Granato did not confirm whether or not his captain would undergo surgery, and said it was a better question for general manager Kevyn Adams to answer.
The Sabres will skate again Thursday morning before their 7 p.m. ET matchup to close out the season series with the Capitals. Pregame coverage on WGR starts at 6 p.m. ET with Mike Schopp.