BUFFALO, N.Y. — The Buffalo Sabres signed Michael Houser to a one-year, $750,000 contract and called up Aaron Dell from the minors Wednesday to shore up their injury-depleted goaltending ranks.
The signing comes with Buffalo adding goalies Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen and Malcolm Subban to its injured list.
Luukkonen is considered week-to-week after stopping seven of nine shots in the first period Tuesday before suffering a lower-body injury in a 6-1 loss to Tampa Bay. Subban finished the game but has been diagnosed with what the team calls an upper-body injury that is expected to sideline him for at least a month.
Buffalo is already down two goalies. Craig Anderson is out indefinitely with an upper-body injury, and Dustin Tokarski is still recovering from the effects of COVID-19.
Houser was signed to an NHL contract after spending this season splitting time between Buffalo’s minor league affiliates in Rochester and Cincinnati. The 29-year-old made his NHL debut with the Sabres last season, going 2-2 in four games.
In separate moves, the Sabres reassigned forward Jack Quinn, who made his NHL debut against Tampa Bay, and defenseman Casey Fitzgerald to Rochester.
The Sabres are 0-4-2 in their past six and have won just three times in their past 20 (3-13-4). Buffalo plays at Nashville on Thursday night.