Taxi Squad Shuffle: 01/16/21
It appears as though there will be daily movement this season between the active roster and taxi squad, and although some major names may be highlighted in separate articles, this is where you’ll find the majority of shuffle news each day.
- The Canadiens announced (Twitter link) that they’ve recalled center Jake Evans from the taxi squad in advance of their game tonight against Edmonton. The 24-year-old served as their fourth-line pivot in their opener against Toronto and should be in that role against the Oilers as well.
- Morgan Geekie has been summoned from Carolina’s taxi squad, per a team release. The recall is on an emergency basis and may pertain to Jordan Staal’s placement on the COVID-protocol list on Friday. Geekie played in two games with the Hurricanes last season, recording three goals and one assist.
- The Avalanche announced (Twitter link) that they have assigned defenseman Conor Timmins to the taxi squad. Meanwhile, blueliner Bowen Byram was recalled from AHL Colorado. To make room on the taxi squad, forwards Shane Bowers and Logan O’Connor were assigned to the Eagles. Timmins has played in both games so far this season, logging a little over 15 minutes per night.
- The Maple Leafs have recalled winger Nicholas Robertson from their taxi squad and sent Alexander Barabanov down, the team announced. Robertson played in four games against Columbus in the Qualifying Round last summer but tonight marks his first regular season NHL contest. Barabanov, meanwhile, has played in both games for Toronto so far but logged just 4:19 on Friday night against Ottawa.
- The Kings have made a series of roster moves, notes Jack A. Harris of the Los Angeles Times (Twitter link). With Cal Petersen, Sean Walker, and Kurtis MacDermid all being activated to the roster from the COVID protocol list, defenseman Mark Alt and Tobias Bjornfot along with goalie Jacob Ingham were sent to the taxi squad. To make room on that group, Los Angeles also assigned defenseman Austin Strand and goalie Matthew Villalta to Ontario (AHL).
- Nashville has recalled forward Mathieu Olivier from the taxi squad, adding some physicality up front. The big forward made his NHL debut last season and saw eight games of action with the Predators while also setting new AHL career highs with the Milwaukee Admirals in his second pro season. The Mississippi native could be a frequent fourth line option for Nashville this season given his size, engery, and propensity for checking.
- Derek Ryan and Oliver Kylington have been activated to the roster of the Calgary Flames, the team announced. Two of the bigger names to hit the waiver wire during training camp, Ryan and Kylington both cleared and were assigned to the taxi squad. However, it didn’t take long for the pair to get back in action for Calgary.
Sammy Blais To Have Hearing With Department Of Player Safety
The season is exactly one day old and the Department of Player Safety already has some work to do. The department announced today that Sammy Blais of the St. Louis Blues will have a hearing today for an illegal check to the head on Colorado Avalanche defenseman Devon Toews. Blais was given a two-minute minor penalty for elbowing during the match.
Toews was forced to leave the game but did return to log more than 22 minutes for the Avalanche.
This would be the first suspension in the new season and it seems as though any punishment would be even more punitive than normal. The schedule only has 55 more games on it for the Blues and every one of them is against a divisional opponent. The versatile Blais is an important part of head coach Craig Berube‘s physical system, though he doesn’t drive offense or play a ton. His 155 hits last season led the Blues despite playing only 40 of the team’s 71 games.
Like every other team this season, St. Louis doesn’t have much time to sit around and wait for a ruling. The team is back in action against the Avalanche tomorrow night.
COVID Protocol Related Absences: 01/13/21
As reported earlier, beginning today, and each day for the remainder of the 2020-21 season, the NHL will be sharing the names of players who are “unavailable” to play or practice due to any number of factors that place them under the league’s COVID-19 Protocol. Here is the list of players for today, Wednesday, January 13:
F Lawson Crouse, Arizona Coyotes
F Karson Kuhlman, Boston Bruins
D Erik Johnson, Colorado Avalanche
F Mikko Koivu, Columbus Blue Jackets
D Christian Djoos, Detroit Red Wings
F Darren Helm, Detroit Red Wings
F Gaetan Haas, Edmonton Oilers
F James Neal, Edmonton Oilers
D Markus Nutivaara, Florida Panthers
D Kurtis MacDermid, Los Angeles Kings
G Cal Petersen, Los Angeles Kings
D Sean Walker, Los Angeles Kings
G Alex Stalock, Minnesota Wild
F Mikael Granlund, Nashville Predators
D Luca Sbisa, Nashville Predators
F Justin Richards, New York Rangers
D Shayne Gostisbehere, Philadelphia Flyers
F Kasperi Kapanen, Pittsburgh Penguins
F Maxim Letunov, San Jose Sharks
D Jordie Benn, Vancouver Canucks
F J.T. Miller, Vancouver Canucks
F Nikolaj Ehlers, Winnipeg Jets
*NOTE: The league declined to list any specific members of the Dallas Stars at this time. The team is currently recovering from an extensive breakout.
NHL Planning Outdoor Games At Lake Tahoe
Jan 11: The NHL has officially announced the games, confirming the dates reported by Friedman earlier this month. The Avalanche and Golden Knights will play in the “Bridgestone NHL Outdoors Saturday” while the Bruins and Flyers will play in the “Honda NHL Outdoors Sunday.”
Jan 1: On February 20, the NHL is going to Lake Tahoe. Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet was first to report this morning that the league plans on hosting two outdoor games at the Edgewood Tahoe Resort next month with no fans. The Colorado Avalanche and Vegas Golden Knights will play on February 20, while the Philadelphia Flyers and Boston Bruins battle the following day.
Previous reports had the league searching for an outdoor location like this, with Lake Louise, Alberta, and Park City, Utah two that Friedman mentions in today’s piece. While those locations ultimately proved impossible, the league is still getting its outdoor games.
These matches will do something to replace the usual outdoor games that have been canceled for this season. The Winter Classic (originally scheduled for today) and Stadium Series matches were nixed for this season, with Minneapolis and Raleigh expected to host events in the future. Those were obviously supposed to draw huge crowds and drive revenue for the host clubs, something that the Lake Tahoe event isn’t designed for. Instead, it will be a more intimate performance on the golf course, with Friedman reporting that only around 400 people will be involved.
Snapshots: Yandle, Podkolzin, Cizikas, Grubauer
While no decisions have been made yet or will be made in the coming weeks, Florida Panthers head coach Joel Quenneville split his roster in practice, with the core of the team on one side and the fringe players on the other. One notable name on the wrong side of the ice was veteran defenseman Keith Yandle, who was working with the fringe players, according to FloridaHockeyNow’s George Richards.
Quenneville said those groups can change throughout this week, but he said he wants to see some of the team’s younger defensemen for a while. While it might be easy to dismiss a move like this, the team is trying to develop a better defense-first attitude, something that the highly-paid Yandle can struggle with at times. The 34-year-old blueliner still has three years remaining on his contract at $6.35MM per season, meaning there is a chance that Yandle may sit from time to time this season. Yandle’s playing time dropped last season under Quenneville after years of averaging more than 20 minutes. He averaged 19:42, almost three minutes less than the previous year.
Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman points out that this is worth keeping an eye on, especially since he is currently the top active player in the league in consecutive games with 866 and is fourth all-time.
- The Vancouver Canucks are expected to sign and begin playing 2019 first-round pick Vasili Podkolzin later this season after his contract with KHL’s SKA-St. Petersburg expires on April 30. Of course after being a healthy scratch by SKA Saturday, rumors began that the 19-year-old Russian could be heading to Vancouver sooner than later. However, TSN’s Rick Dhaliwal reports that there is no truth to the rumor. According to his sources, the plan remains to leave the forward with SKA for the remainder of the season.
- Despite an injury prone season last year, New York Islanders forward Casey Cizikas was hoping for a healthy season in 2021. Cizikas missed time with a left leg laceration and then suffered a detached retina in the postseason bubble last season. However injuries keep hitting the fourth-line forward. Newsday’s Andrew Gross reports that Cizikas went down Sunday in a team scrimmage. Linemate Matt Martin and Cizikas sandwiched defenseman Thomas Hickey along the boards during the scrimmage and Cizikas went down in pain. He was attended to on the ice, then on the bench and taken into the locker room after the game. “He’s getting checked out,” coach Barry Trotz said. “The first indication may be more positive than negative. But I don’t have a firm update.”
- Colorado Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar said he expects goaltender Philipp Grubauer to be the team’s starting goaltender entering the season and expects him and Pavel Francouz to split games 60/40, according to The Athletic’s Peter Baugh. Bednar is confident that Grubauer, who missed the first three days of camp, will be ready for opening night.
Training Camp Cuts: 1/10/21
With the start of the season just days away, more teams should be starting to trim their rosters. We’ll keep tabs on those moves here and update this post throughout the day.
Colorado Avalanche (via team release)
D Kyle Burroughs (to Colorado, AHL)
C Sheldon Dries (to Colorado, AHL)
RW Nick Henry (to Colorado, AHL)
D Jacob MacDonald (to Colorado, AHL)
C Jayson Megna (to Colorado, AHL)
D Dan Renouf (to Colorado, AHL)
RW Miikka Salomaki (to Colorado, AHL)
D Peter Tischke (to Colorado, AHL)
C T.J. Tynan (to Colorado, AHL)
RW Mike Vecchione (to Colorado, AHL)
G Adam Werner (to Colorado, AHL)
43 Players Placed On Waivers
As teams begin to make their final camp decisions with the 2020-21 season getting started this week, the ramifications are apparent in today’s waiver wire group. All nine players from Saturday’s waivers cleared, but that is less likely to occur Sunday with a much longer list, including some more notable names. The following players have been placed on waivers today:
Buffalo Sabres
D Brandon Davidson
F Steven Fogarty
F C.J. Smith
G Dustin Tokarski
Calgary Flames
G Louis Domingue
F Byron Froese
F Justin Kirkland
D Alex Petrovic
F Buddy Robinson
Colorado Avalanche
F Kiefer Sherwood
Edmonton Oilers
F Adam Cracknell
F Seth Griffith
Florida Panthers
G Philippe Desrosiers
F Scott Wilson
Los Angeles Kings
D Daniel Brickley
F Boko Imama
Minnesota Wild
D Matt Bartekowski
D Louie Belpedio
F Joseph Cramarossa
F Gabriel Dumont
G Andrew Hammond
F Luke Johnson
F Gerald Mayhew
D Dakota Mermis
D Ian McCoshen
F Kyle Rau
Montreal Canadiens
F Brandon Baddock
F Alex Belzile
F Joseph Blandisi
F Laurent Dauphin
D Noah Juulsen
G Charlie Lindgren
D Gustav Olofsson
D Xavier Ouellet
F Jordan Weal
New York Islanders
F Joshua Ho-Sang
F Mason Jobst
Ottawa Senators
D Maxime Lajoie
Pittsburgh Penguins
D Kevin Czuczman
F Josh Currie
F Frederick Gaudreau
G Maxime Lagace
D Zach Trotman
Among the names likely to receive attention on the wire are a trio of intriguing young players. Defensemen Noah Juulsen and Maxime Lajoie and forward Josh Ho-Sang have all seen NHL action in the past and have shown promise but for different reasons are now available to claim. Juulsen in particular looked like a long-term permanent piece on the Montreal blue line, but vision issues brought on by head injuries knocked him out of the 2018-19 season after 21 games with the Habs and limited him to just 13 AHL games in 2019-20. The Canadiens clearly want to see him get in some game action before returning him to the NHL roster, but another club may have more faith in the young defenseman, who allegedly is back at full strength. After 56 games with the Ottawa Senators in 2018-19, including a hot scoring start, Lajoie was somewhat inexplicably reduced to just six games with the team this past season. A versatile all-around defenseman who has already shown in a small sample size that he can hack it in the NHL, Lajoie could certainly draw interest from a team more willing to give him another chance. Ho-Sang, a first-round pick of the Islanders back in 2014, is on the outs with his club. A future in New York seems non-existent for a player whose effort and attitude have been called into question. His limited action last season also doesn’t help his case. Yet, Ho-Sang’s skill is apparent and that alone is a cause for pause for teams scouring the waiver wire.
As for a more polished possible pick-up, Jordan Weal leads the pack as a veteran of over 200 NHL games who has posted an 82-game scoring pace of 25 points or more in three straight seasons. Seth Griffith is also no stranger to being passed around via waivers and Frederick Gaudreau is coming off a career-high 55 NHL appearances last season and has strong scoring numbers throughout his AHL career.
This waiver group could also provide goalie depth for a team in need (see: New Jersey Devils). Andrew Hammond, Louis Domingue, Dustin Tokarski, and Charlie Lindgren are all veteran net minders with NHL experience who could provide some stability in net.
Erik Johnson Not Able To Join Practice Yet
Defenseman Alec Martinez was the big addition for the Golden Knights at last year’s trade deadline and he fit in quite well with his new team. Now, the 33-year-old is entering the final year of his contract and is eligible for an extension. For the time being at least, that doesn’t seem to be on the forefront, as he told reporters including David Schoen of the Las Vegas Review-Journal:
I think if the team’s successful, then individuals are successful. The business side will take care of itself. To answer your question if I put a whole lot of thought into it, no, I haven’t. I’m just trying to get ready for this year.
While Martinez has never been a big point producer, he has been an effective top-four shutdown defender for several years now. As a result, he should be able to land a raise in free agency on his current $4MM AAV. Vegas only has a little over $5MM in cap room for next season with multiple roster spots to fill though so they may have to get creative if they want to keep him in the fold.
More from the West Division:
- Sharks defenseman Radim Simek missed time with two separate knee issues last season, ultimately undergoing surgery. However, he told Curtis Pashelka of The Mercury News that the pain was coming back while skating in the spring and continues to linger in training camp. Despite that, head coach Bob Boughner is confident that the 28-year-old will be good to go for opening night. Even so, the fact that these issues are persisting is hardly ideal considering Simek is in the first season of a four-year deal that was signed last March.
- While Colorado got goalie Philipp Grubauer plus wingers Gabriel Landeskog and Brandon Saad back at practice yesterday, defenseman Erik Johnson remains unfit to participate with no word yet on when he’ll be available, relays Mike Chambers of the Denver Post. Meanwhile, blueliner Keaton Middleton, invited to camp as a PTO player as he is only signed to an AHL contract, has left the team to seek a second opinion after failing his physical.
Large Group Of Players Placed On Waivers
With just a few days before the start of the regular season, a huge number of players have been placed on waivers. The full list includes:
Anaheim Ducks:
Anthony Stolarz
Andy Welinski
Christian Djoos
Andrew Poturalski
Chase De Leo
Vinni Lettieri
Sam Carrick
Andrew Agozzino
David Backes
Carolina Hurricanes:
Antoine Bibeau
Steven Lorentz
Spencer Smallman
Jeremy Bracco
Gustav Forsling
Drew Shore
Max McCormick
Colorado Avalanche:
Jacob MacDonald
Dan Renouf
Kyle Burroughs
Mike Vecchione
T.J. Tynan
Miikka Salomaki
Jayson Megna
Sheldon Dries
Toronto Maple Leafs:
These massive waiver placements are no different than the normal training camp cuts that would occur in late-September in a normal year. Should they clear, these players will be eligible to report to the taxi squad or AHL. There are a few names that stand out from the crowd though.
Backes, a veteran of 950 NHL games, still carries a $6MM cap hit on the final season of the five-year, $30MM contract he signed with the Boston Bruins in 2016. As Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic reports, this is not a move by the Ducks to try and rid themselves of Backes, but create some additional flexibility. At any rate, his contract basically makes him waiver-proof as no other team would want to take it on at this point in the season.
Bracco, a former top prospect that scored 79 points in 75 games for the Toronto Marlies of the AHL as recently as 2018-19, has seen his development stall and finds himself on the outside looking in for the Hurricanes once again. Djoos, once an up-and-coming defenseman in the Washington Capitals system, is now 26 and available to the whole league, should they want to take a chance.
Josh Anderson Placed On Unconditional Waivers
Jan 8: Anderson has cleared and will have his contract terminated.
Jan 7: The Colorado Avalanche have placed Josh Anderson on unconditional waivers for the purpose of a contract termination, according to CapFriendly. The 22-year-old defenseman was a third-round pick of the team in 2016 and has spent most of the last two seasons with the Utah Grizzlies of the ECHL. Anderson had one year remaining on his entry-level contract but will become an unrestricted free agent after the termination goes through.
It’s not clear what’s next for Anderson, but after failing to make any sort of impression in his first two seasons it seems unlikely that he will earn another NHL contract anytime soon. In 23 games with the Grizzlies last season, he scored six points, raising his career total in the ECHL to 13. He did play in 12 games with the Colorado Eagles and even scored his first AHL goal, but he clearly wasn’t making the progress the Avalanche hoped for when selecting him 71st overall five years ago.
Like all the other players that have been put on waivers so far, it’s unlikely that Anderson generates a claim. Perhaps a job is waiting for him overseas, or another ECHL team will extend him a minor league contract.