The NHL has officially announced the temporary formation of taxi squads and three additional postponements. The following games will be rescheduled for later in the season:
- Columbus Blue Jackets at Chicago Blackhawks, December 28
- Pittsburgh Penguins at Toronto Maple Leafs, December 29
- Boston Bruins at Ottawa Senators, December 29
The other games scheduled for Tuesday are set to play as originally planned, though there will be continued testing that could change that. Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff writes that more players are expected to be placed in the COVID protocol tomorrow when test results have been confirmed.
In addition to the postponements, the league has officially revealed the new taxi squad rules. As previously reported, they will be in place from today through each team’s final game prior to the All-Star Break. It will have a maximum of six players at any time, will be subject to normal waiver requirements and no player may spend more than 20 cumulative days on the taxi squad.
There have also been temporary modifications to the CBA, allowing some salary cap relief for clubs dealing with COVID absences. Roster Emergency Exception recalls are now allowed to be players with a cap hit of up to $1MM (previously it had been limited at $850K). Teams can now recall a goaltender under emergency conditions–i.e. if they have fewer than two goaltenders on the active roster–without playing a game short. That means we won’t continue to see EBUGs pop up around the league (or at least not as often).
The full changes can be found here.
And here I was awaiting my EBUG opportunity. :(
@Gbear – I believe I won that coin toss! Unless the destination is ARI/DET/BUF/CHI/SEA… On second thought, you can take my place. I’ll be your EBUG, instead! Remember, if you think you’ve strained a groin on that Caufield breakaway, don’t signal to me if I’m elbows deep in arena fries!
@Mac – I’m handling the Florida EBUG duties, so I’m seeding the northern/midwest duties to you. I’ll be sitting under a palm tree on the beach awaiting my daily EBUG status update. :D
And I have it on good authority that a holder for your fries will be placed right next to the water bottle on top of the goal, so no excuses! :p
@Gbear – And the note next to them reads “Property of Ilya Bryzgalov.” I need better seniority for these deals… :(
@Mac – The Bryz might not be able to fulfill EBUG duties due to still raking in millions from numerous NHL teams. We have no such contractual constraints. :D
The Bryz had the best agent ever!
Wow! Those shutdown measures are working just fine. Let’s bring summore shutdown measures! Maybe the szn is gonna get back up by march
Any one woder what the postivity rate is?.. Seems really high..Does the NHL Test asymptomatic vacinated players???
yes
Basically 100. And all of them are nothing more than slight colds. And just like in the beginning of covid, they still spread it weeks before testing positive. The leagues a joke. The “government” is a joke and mos definitely this covid shits a joke. Funny how theyre so worried about informing everyone how many NHL players are getting covid, but theres no reporting on how its all just slight colds that only last a couple days. Weird.
Its completely pointless to test or shut down anything. Its still gonna spread and its impossible to have a legit shutdown in a world run by money.
But….but….but…grandmas are dying! And it’s all because YOU didn’t wear a mask!
You tot forgot about poor babies dying! Is this the world that we want to live in?
Danny D: perhaps you’d be willing to keep sarcasm to yourself. It’s unnecessarily cruel to anyone visiting this site who has lost one or more loved ones to the coronavirus.
The sarcasim is warranted considering the Orwellian measures we see being put in place. Mockery is part of ending the nonsense.
Everyone has lost someone myself included. Doest it mean that those who are alive and well must abandon the life we’re used to? You’re welcome to make a choice for yourself. Well i chose not to suffer the loss cos theres no point. I wish you the same
Ultimately the virus is becoming more contagious, but less deadly. Yet the powers that be are afraid because if it becomes a deadly strain they can be held fiscally accountable. So here we sit. OR if too many people feel the need for hospitals, well then we are back to accountability.
What was once the Spanish Flu is now the regular flu.
1917, no lawyers and money to be lost, let us move on.
2021, fear the lawyers and litigation.
Cancel the season
No other way around the cold during winter…
That’s a really logical solution. We all know how deadly the virus is.
Glad to see that that mandatory vaccination’s have worked.