dudacek Posted December 9, 2020 Report Share Posted December 9, 2020 So the Instigators are talking about the likelihood of expanded rosters and taxi squads to start the season. I don't think this is confirmed, but the scuttlebutt is 30 players, with a chunk of them (the taxi squad?) kept separate from the rest for COVID reasons. It will be interesting to see how that affects the roster and players like Ruotsalainen, Mittelstadt and Jack Quinn. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sabres Fan in NS Posted December 9, 2020 Report Share Posted December 9, 2020 At first glance I thought this was a rant about the lack of taxi services in parts of Halifax and the welcoming / unwelcoming of Uber a few days ago. Carrion ... Actually, I don't know what *taxi squad* means, but I do like the idea of 30 player rosters. I suspect that will mean about 7 to 10 on a *practice squad* situation where they could come in easily for injury, or the dreaded plague, replacements. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taro T Posted December 9, 2020 Report Share Posted December 9, 2020 52 minutes ago, dudacek said: So the Instigators are talking about the likelihood of expanded rosters and taxi squads to start the season. I don't think this is confirmed, but the scuttlebutt is 30 players, with a chunk of them (the taxi squad?) kept separate from the rest for COVID reasons. It will be interesting to see how that affects the roster and players like Ruotsalainen, Mittelstadt and Jack Quinn. If there is no, or an even more delayed, AHL there will have to be expanded rosters. Would expect those players to be treated like AHLers for purposes of salary and service. If those guys get segregated from the rest of the team for COVID purposes, really concerned about how much this will end up as a toasted development year for them. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dudacek Posted December 9, 2020 Author Report Share Posted December 9, 2020 I'd much rather see Quinn, for example, practicing with the Sabres than waiting for the OHL to re-start. But guys like Ruotsalainen and Mittelstadt need to be challenged in games. Can taxi squads play exhibitions against each other? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taro T Posted December 9, 2020 Report Share Posted December 9, 2020 2 minutes ago, dudacek said: I'd much rather see Quinn, for example, practicing with the Sabres than waiting for the OHL to re-start. But guys like Ruotsalainen and Mittelstadt need to be challenged in games. Can taxi squads play exhibitions against each other? Good question. Still seems to me that a reasonable option until fans can attend is to have the AHL teams tag along with their parent club (whether the NHL ends up using either the MLB model or the bubble city one) and play a matinee against the farm club of whomever the parent plays later that day pushing hard for people to get AHL TV subscriptions to cut down on the losses. At least salaries are a fraction of the big clubs, which help. Teams can't have noone developing so they have to do something. Perhaps that and some sort of loan program from the NHL to the AHL keeps some borderline teams from folding. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
French Collection Posted December 9, 2020 Report Share Posted December 9, 2020 I would hope the taxi squad guys would be part of the team for practices, so they are ready to go when called upon. They would be more familiar with line mates, D partners etc... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dudacek Posted December 9, 2020 Author Report Share Posted December 9, 2020 12 minutes ago, French Collection said: I would hope the taxi squad guys would be part of the team for practices, so they are ready to go when called upon. They would be more familiar with line mates, D partners etc... From a hockey perspective for sure. From a COVID perspective, you have to worry about a Denver Broncos QB situation. Hopefully there's a happy medium, but I would think Dustin Tokarski might be one lonely Sabre. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brawndo Posted December 9, 2020 Report Share Posted December 9, 2020 Per TSN Insiders the plan is for the AHL to begin Play on February with all games being played within divisions. The Four Canadian Based AHL Teams Manitoba, Toronto, Laval and Belleville would play each other. Their is no plan to bring the Remaining US Based Teams to Canada. The Amerks would play in division with Cleveland, Syracuse, SWB, Hartford amongst others Lebrun also mentioned that he has heard that NHL teams will have rosters of 26 with teams carrying an extra forward, defenseman and goalie. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taro T Posted December 9, 2020 Report Share Posted December 9, 2020 42 minutes ago, Brawndo said: Per TSN Insiders the plan is for the AHL to begin Play on February with all games being played within divisions. The Four Canadian Based AHL Teams Manitoba, Toronto, Laval and Belleville would play each other. Their is no plan to bring the Remaining US Based Teams to Canada. The Amerks would play in division with Cleveland, Syracuse, SWB, Hartford amongst others Lebrun also mentioned that he has heard that NHL teams will have rosters of 26 with teams carrying an extra forward, defenseman and goalie. As long as teams have to have those extra players clear waivers, the Sabres should be in good shape in their quest to get a goalie. If not, we'd better hope Hutton's eyes and extremities stay at 100% or else we'll be watching the 3rd season of this "Hot Start, Hard Fall" show that we've come to despise. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LabattBlue Posted December 9, 2020 Report Share Posted December 9, 2020 (edited) 2 hours ago, New Scotland (NS) said: At first glance I thought this was a rant about the lack of taxi services in parts of Halifax and the welcoming / unwelcoming of Uber a few days ago. Carrion ... Actually, I don't know what *taxi squad* means, but I do like the idea of 30 player rosters. I suspect that will mean about 7 to 10 on a *practice squad* situation where they could come in easily for injury, or the dreaded plague, replacements. I knew what the term “taxi squad” meant in regards to sports teams, but never knew the origin, until I just googled it... Coach Paul Brown invented it when he wanted to keep a group of promising players who didn’t make the roster. He didn’t want to get rid of them completely, so owner Arthur McBride put them on the payroll of the taxi company that he owned. Alas, the term “taxi squad” was born and would ultimately be adopted by the NFL. Edited December 9, 2020 by LabattBlue 3 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eleven Posted December 9, 2020 Report Share Posted December 9, 2020 3 hours ago, Taro T said: If there is no, or an even more delayed, AHL there will have to be expanded rosters. Would expect those players to be treated like AHLers for purposes of salary and service. If those guys get segregated from the rest of the team for COVID purposes, really concerned about how much this will end up as a toasted development year for them. The only way to really have a taxi squad is to separate them from the rest of the team, I would think. Yeah, it's going to burn a development year, but having them practice with their coaches is better than doing nothing if there is no AHL (and I don't think there will be AHL). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spndnchz Posted December 9, 2020 Report Share Posted December 9, 2020 I’ll vote this the most awry topic of 2020. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PerreaultForever Posted December 9, 2020 Report Share Posted December 9, 2020 3 hours ago, French Collection said: I would hope the taxi squad guys would be part of the team for practices, so they are ready to go when called upon. They would be more familiar with line mates, D partners etc... Not sure you can work that unless it's just a few guys. If it's a large group that's an over crowded practice both from a coaching perspective and a covid one. Think you'd need to run a second practice with one assigned assistant coach maybe. Separate from the main team. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taro T Posted December 9, 2020 Report Share Posted December 9, 2020 45 minutes ago, Eleven said: The only way to really have a taxi squad is to separate them from the rest of the team, I would think. Yeah, it's going to burn a development year, but having them practice with their coaches is better than doing nothing if there is no AHL (and I don't think there will be AHL). They might not get an AHL season in, but right now, per Brawndo & his awesome Twitter feed they're planning on running AHL in some form starting in February. IF that happens, getting assigned to the taxi squad could be the last nail in their development's coffins. Because, yeah, having a taxi squad to carry on should COVID strike a team doesn't help much if nobody on the taxi squad is available. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tom webster Posted December 9, 2020 Report Share Posted December 9, 2020 I have been saying for years that having your top 30 players being part of your team instead of having AHL affiliations was the way of the future. Its like owners are about to have their little real life experiment to find out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PromoTheRobot Posted December 9, 2020 Report Share Posted December 9, 2020 1 hour ago, Eleven said: The only way to really have a taxi squad is to separate them from the rest of the team, I would think. Yeah, it's going to burn a development year, but having them practice with their coaches is better than doing nothing if there is no AHL (and I don't think there will be AHL). Lock them up inside Harborcenter. They can play pickup daily. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eleven Posted December 9, 2020 Report Share Posted December 9, 2020 3 minutes ago, PromoTheRobot said: Lock them up inside Harborcenter. They can play pickup daily. Yeah, that's what I'm envisioning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thorny Posted December 9, 2020 Report Share Posted December 9, 2020 Does anytime have any idea what Mittelstadt is even doing? Is he holding out? Retiring? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thorny Posted December 9, 2020 Report Share Posted December 9, 2020 4 hours ago, Taro T said: As long as teams have to have those extra players clear waivers, the Sabres should be in good shape in their quest to get a goalie. If not, we'd better hope Hutton's eyes and extremities stay at 100% or else we'll be watching the 3rd season of this "Hot Start, Hard Fall" show that we've come to despise. The thing about Hutton is, take a look at his stats his "healthy" year, here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taro T Posted December 9, 2020 Report Share Posted December 9, 2020 5 minutes ago, Thorny said: The thing about Hutton is, take a look at his stats his "healthy" year, here. He played very well his 1st year in Buffalo until the calendar flipped, then he fell off the face of the earth. Seemed he had a leg injury he was playing through the back half of the season. His movement wasn't the same as it had been in Nov or even Dec. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thorny Posted December 10, 2020 Report Share Posted December 10, 2020 1 hour ago, Taro T said: He played very well his 1st year in Buffalo until the calendar flipped, then he fell off the face of the earth. Seemed he had a leg injury he was playing through the back half of the season. His movement wasn't the same as it had been in Nov or even Dec. Yup, so kinda goes to your point where likely we'd get, at best, a delayed fall-off from him if he's being relied upon - at his age the injuries seem to have become commonplace. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taro T Posted December 10, 2020 Report Share Posted December 10, 2020 14 minutes ago, Thorny said: Yup, so kinda goes to your point where likely we'd get, at best, a delayed fall-off from him if he's being relied upon - at his age the injuries seem to have become commonplace. Well, if he can play at least 20 (& ideally up to 30 should Ullmark slump or have a minor injury) games before falling into the abyss then maybe they can have a solid playoff spot locked up before they need to rely exclusively on Ullmark. Which would be par for the course for a normal playoff run - once the playoffs are here there are almost no platoons & Hutton can start the rest portion of his rest & rehab routine. Still really want an upgrade to him though if AZ doesn't have to lose a goalie, it may not be in the cards. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
woods-racer Posted December 10, 2020 Report Share Posted December 10, 2020 If hockey starts mid January and the season is at 52 (ish) games then expecting Hutton to be ready to go for 16 of them puts him at a start of one every 6 days. That has Ullmark starting every three days playing 36 games over a 90 day period. I am hoping that Hutton has 16 good games in him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LabattBlue Posted December 10, 2020 Report Share Posted December 10, 2020 22 hours ago, tom webster said: I have been saying for years that having your top 30 players being part of your team instead of having AHL affiliations was the way of the future. Its like owners are about to have their little real life experiment to find out. What happens to AHL teams at that point? Do they just become independents who sign players not under contract to NHL teams? I wonder if they could still afford a handful of guys who make the $500-750k salaries? Anyways...interesting concept. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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