Fitzgerald, 25, made his NHL debut in December of last season after spending two full seasons in Rochester. He went on to play 36 games with Buffalo, tallying six assists and establishing a reputation as a player who opponents dread for his physical, antagonistic play.
His rookie season included four fights, the first of which came during his debut against Pittsburgh.
"The bite and the grit is something that we notice, but the important thing is the guy wearing the other jersey on the other team is well aware when Casey Fitzgerald is on the ice," Sabres coach Don Granato said.
"That is extremely important. He has a presence to his game even though he's small. He holds players accountable in a different manner than maybe our other group of defensemen and that has an impact, a real positive impact for us."
Here are more notes from Wednesday's practice.
1. Kyle Okposo was absent after sustaining an upper-body injury during the Sabres' preseason game against Carolina on Tuesday.
Granato said Okposo does have a chance to be in the lineup for the regular-season opener next Thursday.
"It's going to take a few days for him," Granato said. "The issue he's dealing with will resolve. I mentioned yesterday that you'll probably see him on the ice in a couple of days. I think that still holds."
2.The Sabres assigned forward Sean Malone to Rochester after practice. Malone missed the start of camp while he recovered from offseason surgery but joined team practices late last week.
3. Here's how the Sabres lined up with Okposo absent and Fitzgerald back:
| October 5 |
| --- |
| | C | RW |
| 53 Jeff Skinner | 72 Tage Thompson | 71 Victor Olofsson |
| 22 Jack Quinn | 37 Casey Mittelstadt | 89 Alex Tuch |
| 19 Peyton Krebs | 24 Dylan Cozens | 77 JJ Peterka |
| 28 Zemgus Girgensons | 74 Rasmus Asplund | 29 Vinnie Hinostroza |
| | 8 Riley Sheahan | 15 Anders Bjork |
| LD | RD | G |
| 23 Mattias Samuelsson | 26 Rasmus Dahlin | 31 Eric Comrie |
| 25 Owen Power | 10 Henri Jokiharju | 1 Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen |
| 78 Jacob Bryson | 46 Ilya Lyubushkin | |
| 20 Lawrence Pilut | 45 Casey Fitzgerald | |
| 38 Kale Clague / 4 Jeremy Davies | 33 Chase Priskie | |
4. The Sabres had 11 defensemen on the ice for practice. That number will shrink to seven or eight once the deadline for 23-man rosters arrives next Monday.
The numbers have made for a positive competition, Fitzgerald said.
"It's always great to have competition, no matter what," Fitzgerald said. "If you're not having competition, you're probably in a pretty tough spot as a team. That comes with the territory of being a pro hockey player. It's good that we have such a good trust.
"Just the atmosphere in here is great. Me and all these guys go out to dinner every night, we're best friends, so it's something we all know. In a personal manner, we're trying to make the team but we push each other to be our best. At the end of the day, we're all on the same team. We want to get each other better and ready to go for the season."
5. Alex Tuch had a special guest at the rink:
Tweet from @BuffaloSabres: This place has gone to the dogs! pic.twitter.com/FcVbIYZhHl
That's Tuch's golden retriever, Teddy.
