Taxi Squad Shuffle: 03/23/21

There has been plenty of roster movement between NHL teams and the taxi squad on a daily basis this season. Although some major names may be highlighted in separate articles, this is where you’ll find the majority of that shuffle news each day:

West Division

• The Arizona Coyotes have recalled Dryden Hunt and Ivan Prosvetov from the taxi squad while sending Hudson Fasching back to the taxi squad.  With a requirement of at least three goalies available, Arizona also recalled David Tendeck to the taxi squad.
• The Colorado Avalanche have brought up Logan O’Connor and Dan Renouf from the taxi squad on an emergency basis, per CapFriendly. Conor Timmins was sent down in a corresponding move.
• The Los Angeles Kings have sent Austin Strand and Tobias Bjornfot back to the taxi squad, per CapFriendly. Bjornfot has three assists in 16 games this season while Strand has a helper in seven contests.
• The Minnesota Wild have assigned Luke Johnson and Connor Dewar to Iowa of the AHL. Johnson has played in six games so far this season while Dewar has yet to make his NHL debut.
• The San Jose Sharks sent John Leonard, Fredrik Claesson, and Antti Suomela to the taxi squad, per CapFriendly. In a corresponding move, Stefan Noesen was moved from the taxi squad to the AHL.
• The St. Louis Blues sent Dakota Joshua and Jake Walman to the taxi squad, per CapFriendly. Joshua has a goal in ten games this season while Walman hasn’t recorded a point in six contests.
• The Vegas Golden Knights have sent Dylan Coghlan and Patrick Brown to the taxi squad, per CapFriendly. With those two being added to the taxi squad, Carl Dahlstrom and Jake Bischoff were sent to the AHL.

North Division

• The Ottawa Senators have re-assigned Clark Bishop to the taxi squad, where he’ll be joined by Alex Formenton who is up from the AHL. The Senators took home a big win against the Flames last night and will have a rematch tomorrow evening.
• The Toronto Maple Leafs have recalled Mac Hollowell, Kristians Rubins, and Scott Sabourin to the taxi squad, sending Martin Marincin, Timothy Liljegren, and Nic Petan to the AHL for Wednesday’s Toronto Marlies game. The team will likely make a swap again the next day, bringing the more experienced taxi squad members back up.
• The Winnipeg Jets have re-assigned Dominic Toninato back to the taxi squad after he failed to get into the lineup last night. Toninato still hasn’t gotten into a game this season after playing 46 with the Panthers last year.
• The Calgary Flames have sent Zac Rinaldo and Alexander Petrovic to the taxi squad, per CapFriendly. Rinaldo played in just his third game of the season last night while Petrovic has yet to see NHL action this season.

Central Division

• The Chicago Blackhawks have made quite a few transactions, recalling Reese Johnson, Mackenzie Entwistle, Nicolas Beaudin, Madison Bowey, Lucas Carlsson, and Wyatt Kalynuk to the taxi squad from the AHL. To make room for the six-man group, Mikael Hakkarainen, Brandon Pirri, John Quenneville, and Alex Regula have all been re-assigned to the Rockford IceHogs.
• The Florida Panthers have loaned Eetu Luostarinen to the taxi squad, recalling Brett Connolly to the active roster in his place. Connolly, who scored 19 goals and 33 points in 69 games for the Panthers last season, has just three points in 16 games this year. Luostarinen meanwhile has just eight in 31.
• The Dallas Stars have recalled Tanner Kero and Joel L’Esperance from the taxi squad, activating Mark Pysyk from injured reserve as well. To make room, Joel Kiviranta has been moved to IR retroactive to March 21.
• The Carolina Hurricanes aren’t in action today so Jake Bean is back on the taxi squad, per CapFriendly. It’s the ninth time this month alone that he has been assigned to the taxi squad.
• The Columbus Blue Jackets have assigned Mikhail Grigorenko to the taxi squad. It has now been a month since the 26-year-old has played in an NHL game.
• The Detroit Red Wings have brought up Dennis Cholowski from the taxi squad. The defenseman made his season debut back on Saturday, playing a little more than 12 minutes.
• The Tampa Bay Lightning have recalled Andreas Borgman from the taxi squad, per CapFriendly. The 25-year-old has played in just one game with Tampa Bay this season.

East Division

• The Washington Capitals have recalled Michael Sgarbossa and Garrett Pilon from the AHL to the taxi squad, as both Alex Ovechkin and T.J. Oshie are missing practice today. Oshie’s absence is due to personal reasons while Ovechkin is just having a maintenance day, according to Tom Gulitti of NHL.com.
• The Philadelphia Flyers have sent Matthew Strome back to the AHL, removing him from the taxi squad for the time being. Strome has played just three games for the Lehigh Valley Phantoms this season after spending half of the 2019-20 campaign in the ECHL. Carsen Twarynski and Alex Lyon were sent to the taxi squad, per CapFriendly.
• As their number of healthy goaltenders continues to dwindle, the Buffalo Sabres have recalled Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen from the AHL to the taxi squad. Carter Hutton was injured in last night’s game, leaving Dustin Tokarski and newly signed Michael Houser as the only two healthy netminders on the roster. Luukkonen, the team’s goaltender of the future, now must come up to serve as the team’s third option, not exactly leaving much depth at the position in the minor leagues. Rasmus Asplund was also sent to the taxi squad, per CapFriendly.
• The New Jersey Devils made several moves today. Per CapFriendly, Michael McLeod and Nicholas Merkley were recalled from the taxi squad while Ben Street and Jesper Boqvist were recalled to the taxi squad. Jeremy Groleau was sent from the taxi squad to the minors.
• With the New York lslanders not playing tonight, they’ve sent Oliver Wahlstrom back to the taxi squad, per CapFriendly. The 20-year-old has eight goals and seven assists in 26 games this season and will undoubtedly be recalled for Thursday’s game against Boston.
• The New York Rangers have made their usual series of moves on a non-game day. Per CapFriendly, Kaapo Kakko and Keith Kinkaid were sent to the taxi squad with Tarmo Reunanen and Adam Huska getting sent to the minors. Vitali Kravtsov was also added to the taxi squad having gone through his quarantine.