Taxi Squad Shuffle: 01/17/22

Eight games grace the NHL schedule today, including quite a few afternoon tilts as the United States celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. day. The Detroit Red Wings will head to snowy Buffalo to take on the Sabres, before the Minnesota Wild and Colorado Avalanche play an important Central Division test. As those teams and others prepare for action, we’ll keep track of all the minor league and taxi squad shuffling.

Atlantic Division

• The Montreal Canadiens have sent Rafael Harvey-Pinard, Jesse Ylonen, and Gianni Fairbrother back to the Laval Rocket of the AHL. Fairbrother, 21, failed to actually get into a game with Montreal as he entered the COVID protocol almost immediately after being recalled. He’s out now, but will head back to the minor leagues.
• The Sabres have recalled Mattias Samuelsson from the AHL, sending Casey Fitzgerald to the taxi squad to make room. Samuelsson, 21, has 15 points in 20 games with the Rochester Americans this season, showing he’s ready to take the next step and contribute as an NHL defenseman.
• Thomas Greiss has entered the COVID protocol, leaving the Red Wings to recall Calvin Pickard from the AHL. Pickard will back up Alex Nedeljkovic in today’s match.

Metropolitan Division

• Defenseman Jake Christiansen is back up with the Columbus Blue Jackets, bringing him up from the AHL’s Cleveland Monsters. The 22-year-old made his NHL debut earlier this season.

Central Division

• The Avalanche have recalled Kiefer Sherwood and Mikhail Maltsev, giving them a couple of extra bodies for this afternoon’s match. The team has announced that Valeri Nichushkin has entered the COVID protocol, explaining the recalls.
• The Minnesota Wild have recalled Calen Addison, Matt Boldy, and Andrew Hammond as expected ahead of today’s game. The team had been of since last Friday and used the time to save a little bit of cash and salary cap by sending these three down.

Pacific Division

• The Los Angeles Kings have added Adrian Kempe to the COVID protocol, leading to the recalls of Jaret Anderson-Dolan, Samuel Fagemo and Jacob Moverare. While those three should be used to bouncing up and down, Kempe’s absence could lead to a little more playing time for at least one of the forwards.

This page will be updated throughout the day