Toronto Maple Leafs: 3 Storylines After First Day of Training Camp
#2. Huge Battle for the Taxi-Squad
Another new wrinkle to the NHL season is the “Taxi Squad.” For those of you unfamiliar with how this is going to work, here’s a quick recap, thanks to Pat Hickey of The Montreal Gazette.
"“The taxi squads will have a minimum of four players and a maximum of six and must include a goaltender unless a team is carrying three goalies on its NHL roster. Players can move freely between the taxi squad and the NHL roster, but call-ups must be made prior to 5 p.m. on game day.”"
Since the Leafs are tight to the salary cap, I’d expect them to have six players on the Taxi Squad and roster a 21-man line-up at all times. This will give them the best opportunity to get under the salary cap every night and potentially add to their roster if necessary.
https://twitter.com/MapleLeafs/status/1345784553101811714
Since the “Taxi Squad” works the same as if you were sending a player to the AHL, the Leafs will most likely put as many of their waiver-exempt players on there. If they do it this way, they won’t have to worry about losing a player they’d like to keep and can still get them into the NHL line-up often. Here’s my projection of what the squad could look like:
- Pierre Engvall
- Joey Anderson
- Rasmus Sandin
- Nick Robertson
- Travis Boyd
- Joseph Woll
The only player the Leafs would have to worry about losing to waivers is Travis Boyd, which is a big win for them. Obviously, they’d hate to see him go before playing a game in the organization, but he won’t fit the main roster with the amount of forward depth they have.