Could The NHL Be Bringing Back The Taxi Squad?

Toronto Maple Leafs Taxi Squad

When we all thought we were returning to some sense of normal, Covid-19 has started to creep back into our hockey lives. The Toronto Maple Leafs, Vegas Golden Knights and Colorado Avalanche have already had issues with positive Covid tests at this point in the season and this morning, we’ve found out that the Winnipeg Jets are awaiting further lab results themselves.

The situation has now led to two teams having to take the ice with only 19 skaters because of the salary cap issue of bringing on a player without someone going on IR.

The league isn’t entirely inexperienced with this problem. During the last NHL season, we had the usage of a Taxi squad. These players would be able to participate in team activities and be called upon in a scenario such as a positive Covid test. Could we see the NHL restore this type of system in some form?

While it is amusing to watch teams who spent every last penny of their salary cap struggle managing their roster, it is unrealistic to think of that this is a sustainable model for the league. There are really two primary ways the league offices can choose to deal with this. They can add players to the roster in the form of a full taxi squad like they did last year. The downfall of this approach from my point of view is you are now keeping people sitting upstairs that could potentially getting reps in another league. In a world where players are not quarantining, this does not seem necessary. Alternatively, the league could choose to allow single call ups for fill in purposes without implication to the cap scenario but require the player to be sent down upon the player coming eligible for play again.

At the end of the day, it would seem like having some kind of modification allowing call ups and send downs without implication would be the smoothest way to handle the situation. What the league should not be doing is entirely ignoring the situation and letting this spiral out of control before taking a stance.


Discover more from Inside The Rink

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

Ray Aniston

Ray Aniston has been writing and podcasting for several websites in recent years. This new venture is the first to have a site covering the entire NHL and not just a single team.

Leave a Reply

Stuart Skinner

Opinion: Oilers’ Stuart Skinner Showing Some Steadiness Between the Pipes

When it comes to Edmonton Oilers goaltender Stuart Skinner, one never knows what they are going to get. On one hand, one might see a version of Skinner, 26, who stands tall, comes up with big saves, does not get out of position, and does not allow soft goals. When this version of Skinner is […]

Read More

3 Takeaways From The Florida Panthers & Carolina Hurricanes Game 5 | 05/28/2025

“Big players make big plays at the biggest moments when you need them too.” That’s what Sam Reinhart had to say about his captain, Sasha Barkov, in his post-game interview. The Cats rallied from a disappointing first period to score three unanswered goals in the second. The eventual game winner scored by Verhaeghe developed from […]

Read More
Edmonton Oilers

Edmonton Oilers Playoff Thoughts: Round 3, Game 5

Happy belated 9th Birthday, Ben Stelter. Tuesday night’s win was for you. We’re just one win away from a second straight Finals appearance. We always wish Ben were still with us and imagine how joyful he’d be to watch the Edmonton Oilers in these Playoff runs the last couple of years. A really nice gesture […]

Read More