Florida Panthers Claim D Casey Fitzgerald Off Waivers

The Florida Panthers added some defensive depth on Wednesday by claiming Casey Fitzgerald off waivers from the Buffalo Sabres.

Buffalo had placed the 25-year-old on waivers Tuesday to clear room for Henri Jokiharju.

Fitzgerald was a third-round pick of the Sabres in 2016 and played in 23 games with Buffalo this season.

He is also part of Florida hockey royalty: Casey’s father is Tom Fitzgerald, an original member of the Panthers who was with the team for their five seasons at Miami Arena before being traded to Colorado in 1998.

Tom Fitzgerald is currently the general manager of the New Jersey Devils.

The right-handed Fitzgerald played four seasons at Boston College and played his first pro season with AHL Rochester during the 2019-20 campaign.

He made his NHL debut with the Sabres last season where he ended up playing in 36 games — scoring six points off assists.

This season, Fitzgerald had three assists with the Sabres.

Fitzgerald had four goals and 12 points with Rochester last season.

Tom Fitzgerald, father of new Panthers’ defenseman Casey, was part of Florida for its first five seasons of existence and is currently GM of the New Jersey Devils.

He ended his run with the Sabres by being a healthy scratch the past six games. Florida had already been carrying an extra defenseman with Matt Kiersted being scratched the past couple of games and is headed back to Charlotte to get back to playing games.

Buffalo placed Fitzgerald, who averaged 13:03 this season, on waivers in an attempt to get him back to Rochester.