NHL And NHLPA Recreate Taxi Squads Through All-Star Break
6:00 pm: The NHL has officially reintroduced the taxi squad system through the All-Star Break, per CapFriendly. Like last season, there is a six-player maximum to the taxi squads. However, there are some slight changes. Non-emergency-recalled-players who were on an NHL active roster, injured reserve, or NHL non-rostered on December 22 aren’t eligible to go on the taxi squad. Waiver-exempt players aren’t eligible, either, and neither are players who’ve dressed in 16 of their team’s past 20 games. There are other minor stipulations as well.
1:15 pm: Amidst a rapidly escalating number of players being unavailable due to their placement in COVID protocols, the NHL and NHLPA are working on a few different short-term solutions, reports Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman (Twitter link). Among those is the recreation of taxi squads which would be optional for teams to use and would run through the All-Star break in early February.
The taxi squads were in use for all of last season with a record number of daily transactions occurring as teams shuffled players back and forth. Some were to keep players fresh and seeing game action in the minors while many were simply to get players off the salary cap on days where they weren’t playing. Assuming those same rules were to apply this season, there will be considerable activity on that front once again.
Of course, there are other considerations at play. AHL teams are already starting to have their rosters stretched thin due to outbreaks and recalls for players either in COVID protocol or out due to injury. There would be short-term pressures at the lower minor league levels with many ECHL players signing AHL deals, creating holes for the ECHL teams to fill and so on.
Friedman notes that there are other options being discussed as well. Cap-exempt emergency recalls with a player making less than $1MM is apparently on the table and that price point – which sits $250K above the minimum salary – is high enough for most teams to be able to call players up without much issue. Meanwhile, with several teams having to turn to emergency backups on one-day contracts – commonly referred to as EBUG’s – Friedman reports that teams may soon be allowed to simply recall a replacement netminder rather than having to have an EBUG dress for a game first to trigger a cap-exempt recall situation.
An official announcement on the schedule, as well as any changes to protocols such as these, is expected later today.
East Notes: Rodrigues, Coyle, Marner, Blue Jackets
The Penguins have placed winger Evan Rodrigues in COVID protocol, a team spokesperson confirmed to Seth Rorabaugh of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. The 28-year-old has been one of the biggest surprises around the league this season, going from someone who had previously been non-tendered to a regular spot on their top line and he has rewarded them with an impressive showing offensively, sitting second in team scoring with 10 goals and 13 assists in 30 games. He will now be out for at least the next ten days.
Elsewhere in the Eastern Conference:
- The Bruins have lost a player to COVID protocol as the team announced that forward Charlie Coyle has been placed in protocols. The 29-year-old sits fifth in team scoring with seven goals and seven assists in 26 games. Coyle has been trying to fill David Krejci’s spot on Boston’s second line after the long-time Boston veteran decided to play back at home in the Czech Extraliga this season.
- Maple Leafs winger Mitch Marner returned to practice today for the first time since suffering an upper-body injury earlier this month, relays David Alter of The Hockey News (Twitter link). Worth noting is that while Marner is currently on LTIR (which has allowed Toronto to stay cap-compliant among other players being brought up) is that postponed games count towards the 10 games a player must miss while on there so Toronto’s postponements won’t automatically delay Marner’s return.
- The Blue Jackets welcomed a trio of players back to practice today as Aaron Portzline of The Athletic notes (Twitter link) that winger Patrik Laine plus defensemen Adam Boqvist and Dean Kukan have all resumed skating. Laine has been out with an oblique injury since early November after getting off to a good start to his final season of RFA eligibility with ten points in nine games. As for the blueliners, Boqvist suffered an upper-body injury two weeks ago while Kukan fractured his wrist in late October.
Red Wings Add Two, Remove Two From COVID Protocol
The Red Wings have lost a pair of players to COVID protocol but have also welcomed two back as the team announced (Twitter link) that winger Lucas Raymond and defenseman Nick Leddy have been placed into protocol while winger Robby Fabbri and center Michael Rasmussen have both been activated and placed on the active roster.
Raymond is off to a very impressive start to his rookie season and is an early contender for the Calder Trophy after recording 10 goals and 18 assists in 31 games placing him second in scoring on Detroit behind only Dylan Larkin. As for Leddy, he has helped to stabilize their back end, logging nearly 22 minutes per game which places him third on the team in that category.
Fabbri returns after last suiting up on December 14th which also happened to be the day that he signed a new three-year extension. He has 14 points in 29 games this season including eight goals which puts him in the top five in that category on the Red Wings. Meanwhile, Rasmussen has held down a regular spot in Detroit’s lineup this season, picking up 10 points in 29 games while averaging 15:28 per game, the highest ATOI of his career.
The Red Wings are scheduled to return to game action on Wednesday against the Islanders with the standard caveat that the schedule is subject to change if further COVID-related postponements are deemed necessary.
Sabres Place Three In COVID Protocol
The Sabres have announced that head coach Don Granato along with center Dylan Cozens and Mark Jankowski have all been placed in COVID protocol. They added that all three are currently asymptomatic although under the current NHL protocols, all three will miss at least the next three days.
Cozens is off to a good start to his sophomore season, collecting eight goals and seven assists in 30 games, good for sixth in scoring on the Sabres. Meanwhile, Jankowski was recently converted to an NHL contract and had played in four games since then, picking up an assist while logging nearly 13 minutes a night in ice time. The two join Zemgus Girgensons and Vinnie Hinostroza as those that are currently unavailable while Granato is one of eight head coaches currently in COVID protocol.
Buffalo is currently slated to return to the ice on Wednesday against New Jersey unless there are further changes made to the schedule with a decision on that front expected later today.
Stars Place Five Players In COVID Protocol
Dallas has returned from their holiday break with a sizable batch of COVID-positive tests as well. The Stars announced (Twitter link) that defenseman Miro Heiskanen, center Radek Faksa, plus wingers Jason Robertson, Michael Raffl, and Joel Kiviranta have all been placed into COVID protocol along with two support staff members. They will all now be out for at least the next ten days.
Heiskanen is obviously a significant loss as he is their top defenseman. The 22-year-old has four goals and 14 assists in 28 games this season while leading the Stars in ATOI at 24:32 per game. With Jani Hakanpaa also recently entering COVID protocol, Dallas will need to bring up a blueliner from AHL Texas.
They’ll also have to recall several forwards as they were down to 11 on the active roster with three of their active players entering protocol today (Kiviranta is currently on IR with an upper-body injury). Robertson sits second on the team in scoring with 10 goals and 15 assists in 23 games and is the only Star averaging more than a point per game on the season. Faksa has been limited to just two goals in 27 contests but has won an impressive 57% of his faceoffs while Raffl has eight points in 28 games on the season.
Dallas is next scheduled to take to the ice on Wednesday against Colorado pending any other adjustments to the schedule.
Lightning Place Five In COVID Protocol
The COVID test results are in for the Lightning and the end result is that they’ll be missing several players for the next little while. Bryan Burns of Tampa Bay’s team website relays (Twitter link) that goaltenders Andrei Vasilevskiy and Brian Elliott, center Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, defenseman Mikhail Sergachev, and assistant coach Rob Zettler have all been placed in COVID protocol.
As is the case with anyone who enters COVID protocol, they will all miss at least the next ten days.
Vasilevskiy is certainly a notable loss for Tampa Bay as he is off to another fine start to his season with a 2.14 GAA along with a .928 SV% in 24 starts. Not having Elliott available either means that two of their AHL netminders – Maxime Lagace, Hugo Alnefelt, and Amir Miftakhov – will need to be brought up and only Lagace has limited NHL experience.
As for Sergachev, his output is quite similar to his pace from last season as he has two goals and a dozen assists in 30 games while averaging 21:57 per game, the third-highest ATOI on the Lightning. Unless Erik Cernak is ready to return from his injury, they’ll need to recall someone from AHL Syracuse to cover his spot as well. Bellemare is in his first season with Tampa Bay after coming over from Colorado and has chipped in with three goals and four assists in what has basically been a checking role.
As things stand, Tampa Bay is set to return to action on Tuesday against Montreal.
West Notes: Eichel, Davidson, Quick
Golden Knights center Jack Eichel is progressing well in his recovery from artificial disk replacement surgery and has started skating. Accordingly, the clock is starting to tick on how Vegas will be able to get cap compliant to activate him off LTIR. Speaking with David Schoen of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, GM Kelly McCrimmon wasn’t giving away any hints towards how he plans to get there:
We’ve been compliant every game we’ve ever played, and we’ll continue to be as we move forward. What exactly that looks like, how exactly we get there, those are all things that we work at internally, and we’ll keep it that way.
McCrimmon also cautioned that Eichel will be further away from returning than it may seem at first glance as resuming on-ice activities is one thing but being able to do while taking full contact is another one altogether. Even so, it sure seems like the Golden Knights will get Eichel back well before the end of the season which means their cap crunch is starting to get closer.
More from the Western Conference:
- Kyle Davidson has only been the interim GM of the Blackhawks for two months but Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times feels that the 33-year-old has shown enough to take the job on a full-time basis. Davidson has already made one significant change with the dismissal of Jeremy Colliton behind the bench plus a handful of smaller moves but he has had his hands in other parts of this team having been with Chicago since 2011. Even with that longer-term connection, Pope believes that Davidson should be able to evaluate things without any pre-existing biases which would be critical if he retains the role but that the team would be wise to bring in a president of hockey operations to oversee things and provide some experience in the front office.
- This was supposed to be the season where Cal Petersen took over as the starter for the Kings. However, as Andrew Knoll of the LA Daily News highlights, that hasn’t exactly happened with Jonathan Quick playing like he did a decade ago. While that transition is still expected to happen at some point – Quick turns 36 next month and only has one year left on his contract after this one – Petersen will have to wait a little longer to become their undisputed starter.
AHL Shuffle: 12/26/21
While there aren’t any games on the schedule for the next two days (and perhaps longer), players are reporting back to their teams for practices today so there should be an uptick in roster movement. We’ll keep track of those here.
Atlantic Division
- The Bruins have recalled defenseman John Moore per the AHL’s transactions log which also notes that he is going to their taxi squad meaning Boston will opt to use one over the next six weeks. The veteran has six points in 10 games with AHL Providence this season while playing in four games with Boston.
Metropolitan Division
- The Blue Jackets have recalled goaltender Daniil Tarasov, relays Mark Scheig of The Hockey Writers (Twitter link). His promotion was expected with Joonas Korpisalo in COVID protocol. Tarasov made his NHL debut earlier this month, getting into three games with Columbus, posting a 2.22 GAA with a .936 SV%.
Central Division
- The Jets announced (Twitter link) that they’ve recalled wingers C.J. Suess and Kristian Reichel from AHL Manitoba. Both players have suited up just once with Winnipeg this season. They’re up on an emergency basis with Andrew Copp and Kristian Vesalainen in COVID protocol.
Pacific Division
- Jayden Halbgewachs and Jeffrey Viel are up with the San Jose Sharks, as the team recalled them from the San Jose Barracuda today. Halbgewachs made his NHL debut prior to the holiday break, while Viel made his last season. Viel’s yet to play in the NHL this season.
This page will be updated throughout the day.
Maple Leafs Place Jake Muzzin In COVID Protocol
NHL players haven’t been tested for COVID by their teams since they left for their holiday break but a handful of players still entered COVID protocol in recent days. Teams are set to return for testing at 2 PM local time today with practices to follow soon after but before even getting to that point, the Maple Leafs announced (Twitter link) that defenseman Jake Muzzin has been placed in protocol.
The 32-year-old has had a quiet year by his standards offensively, notching just one goal and eight assists in 30 games. However, he’s second on the team in ice time per game at 21:24 per game; only fellow blueliner Morgan Rielly plays more and he just recently entered protocol as well.
In fact, Toronto is now up to 14 players that are currently ineligible to play with Muzzin out for at least the next 10 days. Some of the earlier placements will soon be able to return but after quarantining for that long, they will need a few days to get their conditioning back to game readiness. Accordingly, while the Maple Leafs are next set to play against Pittsburgh on Wednesday, it’s hard to envision that game going forward. More updates for the schedule across the league are expected later today.
Salary Cap Deep Dive: Chicago Blackhawks
Navigating the salary cap is one of the more important tasks for any GM. Teams that can avoid total cap chaos by walking the tightrope of inking players to deals that match their value (or compensate for future value without breaking the bank) remain successful. Those that don’t see struggles and front office changes.
PHR will look at every NHL team and give a thorough look at their cap situation for the 2021-22 season and beyond. This will focus more on players who are regulars on the roster versus those who may find themselves shuttling between the AHL and NHL. All cap figures are courtesy of CapFriendly.
Chicago Blackhawks
Current Cap Hit: $84,388,897 (over the $81.5MM Upper Limit)
Entry-Level Contracts
F Kirby Dach (one year, $925K)
F Reese Johnson (one year, $881K)
F Philipp Kurashev (one year, $843K)
Potential Bonuses
Dach: $2.5MM
Entwistle: $32.5K
Kurashev: $32.5K
Total: $2.565MM
Dach hasn’t progressed as much as anyone in the Chicago organization had hoped. At 20, he’s still certainly young enough to be a long-term fixture for them but he’s not there yet. As a result, a bridge deal is quite likely and he’ll have to pick up his play to have a shot at any of his four ‘A’ bonuses worth $212.5K each. Kurashev has been a useful player that has moved up and down the lineup but his production has been limited each season. He should be able to get a small raise but it won’t be on a long-term deal. Johnson has spent most of the season on the big club in a limited role and seems like a good candidate to take a minimum NHL salary next summer in exchange for a higher AHL salary.
One Year Remaining, Non-Entry-Level
F Ryan Carpenter ($1MM, UFA)
G Marc-Andre Fleury ($7MM, UFA)
D Calvin de Haan ($4.55MM, UFA)
F Kurtis Gabriel ($750K, UFA)
D Erik Gustafsson ($850K, UFA)
D Caleb Jones ($850K, RFA)
F Dominik Kubalik ($3.7MM, RFA)
G Kevin Lankinen ($800K, UFA)
F Andrew Shaw ($3.9MM, UFA)
F Dylan Strome ($3MM, RFA)
Shaw has been on LTIR all season and won’t return but his cap relief will keep Chicago in compliance to the salary cap. Kubalik’s third NHL campaign hasn’t gone anywhere as well as his first two as he has been more of a depth scorer this season. He’s owed a $4MM qualifying offer in the summer and that might be too pricey for the Blackhawks to afford which would put him on the open market in a spot to take a pay cut. They’re in a similar situation with Strome who has struggled to even crack the lineup this season. A $3.6MM qualifier is what is required and it seems quite unlikely that will be tendered. Instead, something closer to $2MM on the open market may be doable. Carpenter is a capable checker but as someone that’s best suited for the fourth line, he’ll be hard-pressed to get much more than that on the open market. Gabriel was just acquired from Toronto and after clearing waivers at the start of the season, it’s safe to suggest he’ll be capped at a minimum deal next year.
In his prime, de Haan was a quality shutdown defender but he hasn’t been that player for the last few seasons. He can still kill penalties and play on the third pairing but with no offense to speak of, he’s someone that should be landing closer to $1MM on the open market in the summer. Jones has been limited due to injury this season which doesn’t help his free agent case. A small raise beyond the required 5% in his qualifying offer is reasonable but he’s not going to break the bank and a long-term contract makes no sense for him. Gustafsson caught on with Chicago late in training camp and has been better in his own end although that has coincided with a drop-off in production. For a player known for his production, that’s not ideal. It’s hard to see him doing better in free agency in July as a result.
Now 37, Fleury is clearly nearing the end of his career. He’s having an okay season but he’s going to have a hard time selling himself as a sure-fire starter in the summer. A one-year deal around half of his current price tag – still in that higher tier for a platoon goalie – may be a more reasonable target if he wants to play another year. Lankinen is having a tough year compared to his rookie season which isn’t going to help his case in free agency. He’ll be able to land a raise based on that first year but he looks likelier to settle for something in the lower end of the backup market in the $1.25MM to $1.75MM range.
Two Years Remaining
F Henrik Borgstrom ($1MM, RFA)
F Brett Connolly ($3.5MM, UFA)
F Alex DeBrincat ($6.4MM, RFA)
F Patrick Kane ($10.5MM, UFA)
F Jujhar Khaira ($975K, UFA)
F Jonathan Toews ($10.5MM, UFA)
Kane and Toews have been linked together for well over a decade now and are on their second set of identical contracts. That won’t happen again two years from now, however. Kane continues to produce at a top-line rate and while that could change between now and then, there still should be enough interest in him on a medium-term deal for him to remain one of the higher-paid wingers in the league. That shouldn’t be the case for Toews. He has struggled considerably this season after missing all of last year due to illness. Aside from an outlier in 2018-19, he hasn’t produced at a top center level in a while. If he can turn it around and still produce like a second liner, he could land a deal around half of his current price tag. But if his current struggles are a sign of things to come, that price tag will be going down even further.
DeBrincat is a particularly interesting RFA case in 2023. His contract, although it kicked in after the rule change for the qualifying offer, still goes by the old rules since it was signed early. That means his qualifying offer is $9MM instead of 120% of his AAV. Right now, there are 19 forwards in the league at that price tag or more and quite a few are centers. DeBrincat is scoring like a high-end winger but his size is always going to give some teams pause. It’d be difficult to envision Chicago non-tendering him unless his production falls off a cliff next season but will they be ready to hand him a Kane-like contract to buy out the remaining prime years of his career? The Blackhawks can offer less but with DeBrincat being a year away from UFA eligibility, he could simply accept the qualifier. Whoever is at the helm next summer – either interim GM Kyle Davidson or someone else – this is a file that they’ll want to try to address.
Borgstrom’s return to North America hasn’t gone well as he has had a limited role when he has been in the lineup and hasn’t done much with it. If that continues, he’ll be a non-tender candidate even at a $1.1MM qualifying offer due to his arbitration eligibility. Connolly is who they took on to add Borgstrom plus some other pieces. He’s an NHL-caliber player but is making much more than he should. He’s someone that should be closer to $1MM on the open market and he could get there this summer if Chicago needs to free up some short-term cap room. Khaira is a capable checker but nothing much has changed for him since he hit the market last summer after being non-tendered. Accordingly, it’s reasonable to project his next contract should check in close to this one.
Three Years Remaining
F Mackenzie Entwistle ($812K this season, $800K through 2023-24, RFA)
F Brandon Hagel ($1.5MM, RFA)
F Mike Hardman ($913K this season, $800K through 2023-24, RFA)
D Riley Stillman ($1.35MM, RFA)
F Tyler Johnson ($5MM, UFA)
Johnson was acquired from Tampa Bay over the summer to give them some extra center depth while adding a second-round pick in exchange for a player who won’t play again (Brent Seabrook). There’s some value in what they got but it remains an above-market contract and as tight as they are to the cap ceiling, it’s fair to wonder if that was the best utilization of that money. Hagel has turned into a reliable secondary scorer and was a good undrafted free agent pickup. As long as he can even hold his own on the third line (and he’s doing better than that now), they’ll get a nice return on their deals. Entwistle and Hardman are currently on entry-level deals but signed cheap one-way extensions that can be cleared off the cap entirely if they lose their spot. Otherwise, they’re decent depth pieces for just above the league minimum.
Stillman was the other player of note brought on when they took on Connolly’s contract. He’s not playing heavy minutes but he’s a regular part of Chicago’s back end. Assuming he can hold down that sixth spot moving forward, they’ll get okay value at least on this contract but they’re certainly hoping he’ll be able to take on a bigger role down the road.