nhl taxi squad 2022

As part of their ongoing COVID mitigation plans, the NHL has reintroduced taxi squads for all NHL teams through at least the 2022 All Star break (February 5).

The taxi squads were used last year to help the season move along. They were comprised of players assigned to the AHL, but were not with the AHL club. They traveled and practiced with the NHL team and were emergency call ups in case of COVID issues.

Keith Kinkaid, Morgan Barron, Anthony Bitetto, Colin Blackwell, Libor Hajek, and Matthew Robertson started last season on the Rangers taxi squad. Eventually Tony DeAngelo was put there, and Blackwell found a regular spot with the Rangers.

The Blueshirts, along with every other team last year, also used it as cap maneuvering, moving players back and forth to accrue cap space. This year, the NHL smartened up, and included this verbiage in the full CBA modifications:

The purpose of the “Taxi Squad” is to provide Clubs with readily available Players that can be recalled to the NHL in order to minimize the chances that Clubs have to play shorthanded or games have to be postponed due to pandemic-related issues. Taxi Squads are not intended to be salary cap management tools and all transactions involving the “Taxi Squad” will be reviewed by the League to ensure they are not being filed contrary to the intentions/purpose of these provisions.

The Rangers don’t need cap space, so it’s of no consequence to them. But this does close that loophole from last year’s taxi squads. There have been no announcements by the Rangers yet about their taxi squad.

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