Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

Sabres assistant coach Granato hospitalized with pneumonia

beauty

This Sept. 12, 2011 photo shows Kevin DellaPenta painting the Buffalo Sabres logo on the ice in preparation for the upcoming NHL hockey season, in Buffalo, N.Y. Terry Pegula doesn’t know or frankly care how much he’s spent on buying the Buffalo Sabres or adding salary with an objective to turn the team into a bona fide contender. (AP Photo/David Duprey)

AP

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Buffalo Sabres assistant coach Don Granato is hospitalized with pneumonia and will miss the start of the season.

The Sabres announced Tuesday that Granato was taking a medical leave of absence. Top minor league coach Chris Taylor will fill in on an interim basis.

The 52-year-old Granato joined the Sabres in June as part of newly hired coach Ralph Krueger’s staff. Granato spent the past two years as an assistant with the Chicago Blackhawks.

His brother is former NHL player and current Wisconsin coach Tony Granato. Sister Cammi Granato is a former U.S. national hockey team captain and was hired as a pro scout by the NHL’s expansion franchise Seattle last month.

The Sabres open the season at Pittsburgh on Thursday.