Love is in the air this Valentine’s Day, especially if you love roster transactions. With the implementation of the taxi squad this season as yet another layer to the recall and reassignment game, there has been nearly four times as many roster transactions so far this season as compared to a normal campaign. Keep track here of what is sure to be a day filled with moves:
Central Division
- The Nashville Predators have recalled defenseman Ben Harpur, replacing the roster spot of forward Eeli Tolvanen who takes his place on the taxi squad. Still without Mattias Ekholm, the Predators have yet to actually deploy Harpur, opting instead to go with Jarred Tinordi as the blue line substitute.
- There’s a sizeable roster overhaul underway in Detroit. The Red Wings, who placed Danny DeKeyser on waivers earlier today, announced that forward Mathias Brome and goaltender Calvin Pickard have been reassigned to the taxi squad, where DeKeyser could join them tomorrow. In a corresponding move, forward Taro Hirose, defenseman Dylan McIlrath, and goalie Kaden Fulcher have all been demoted from the taxi squad to the AHL’s Grand Rapids Griffins.
- As they’ve done after each game lately, the Hurricanes have returned goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic to the taxi squad, per CapFriendly. Also assigned back to the taxi squad was center Steven Lorentz.
- The Blackhawks assigned center Mikael Hakkarainen and winger Mackenzie Entwhistle from the taxi squad to Rockford of the AHL, via the AHL’s transactions page. CapFriendly adds that defenseman Wyatt Kalynuk and center Reese Johnson were sent from Chicago to the taxi squad.
- The Stars assigned winger Joel Kiviranta to the taxi squad, per CapFriendly. The 24-year-old has a goal and an assist in four games with Dallas so far this season.
- Tampa Bay has recalled centers Alex Barre-Boulet and Ross Colton from the taxi squad, per CapFriendly. Gemel Smith, who had two assists in his Lightning debut yesterday, was returned to the taxi squad while goaltender Spencer Martin was reassigned from the taxi squad to AHL Syracuse.
East Division
- Washington Capitals goaltender Ilya Samsonov is finally off the COVID Protocol list, but he has not seen any game action in nearly a month. Rather than throw him right into the fire against the rival Pittsburgh Penguins, the Capitals have announced that Samsonov, still waiver-exempt, has been assigned to the AHL’s Hershey Bears to get some seasoning for the next several days. Vitek Vanecek, in line to make his tenth consecutive start, and veteran Craig Anderson will dress against the Penguins today.
- The Penguins have their own issues in net, as the team announced that Maxime Lagace has been recalled from the taxi squad on an emergency basis and will back up Tristan Jarry today against the Capitals. There is no word on why Casey DeSmith is unavailable to dress.
North Division
- The Ottawa Senators have recalled goaltender Joey Daccord from AHL Belleville and assigned him to the taxi squad, the club announced. They have additionally reassigned goalie Filip Gustavsson to the taxi squad. The Senators have had to shuffle their netminders around with starter Matt Murray currently sidelined, but were fortunate to receive a strong performance from struggling backup Marcus Hogberg on Saturday. Both Daccord and Gustavsson on the taxi squad means that Murray may be ready to return to the active roster, but the team is prepared if he needs more time.
- The 11-7 experiment appears to be over for now in Winnipeg. After suffering a loss to the Senators yesterday, the team has reassigned rookie defenseman Logan Stanley to the taxi squad and appear to be headed back to a standard lineup when they return to action.
- The Calgary Flames have returned Connor Mackey to the taxi squad, per CapFriendly. The 24-year-old played nearly 14 minutes yesterday in his NHL debut against Vancouver.
- The Canadiens have sent Corey Perry and Jesperi Kotkaniemi to the taxi squad, per CapFriendly. Prospects Cam Hillis and Hayden Verbeek, who were up on the taxi squad to ensure the minimum size requirements were met, were returned to AHL Laval.
- The Maple Leafs once again changed around their players at the end of their active roster. CapFriendly reports that wingers Alexander Barabanov and Scott Sabourin were recalled from the taxi squad while center Travis Boyd and winger Nic Petan were sent to the taxi squad.
West Division
- After making his Coyotes debut on Saturday, Hudson Fasching is heading back to the taxi squad. Arizona announced that the 25-year-old forward has been reassigned, but the career minor leaguer will stay at the top level for now.
- The Blues have assigned wingers Mackenzie MacEachern and Austin Poganski to the taxi squad, per CapFriendly. Poganski made his season debut on Saturday, playing nearly nine minutes while MacEachern has been recalled or sent down on a daily basis lately.
- The Ducks have swapped taxi squad goaltenders. CapFriendly reports that Lukas Dostal has been sent to San Diego of the AHL while Anthony Stolarz has been recalled to the taxi squad. Stolarz made 31 stops for the Gulls on Saturday and now that he got a game in, he’ll go back to being Anaheim’s emergency option.
- With Colorado back in action, they made a pair of roster moves to ice a full lineup. CapFriendly notes that defenseman Dennis Gilbert and goaltender Adam Werner were both recalled on an emergency basis.
- The Kings have made several moves, per CapFriendly. Center Lias Andersson and defenseman Austin Strand were promoted to Los Angeles while blueliner Kale Clague and center Jaret Anderson-Dolan were sent to the taxi squad.
- San Jose was busy on the transaction front today, making no fewer than seven transactions. According to CapFriendly, the Sharks recalled defensemen Jacob Middleton and Fredrik Claesson along with center John Leonard from the taxi squad while wingers Noah Gregor and Kurtis Gabriel plus goaltender Alexei Melnichuk were sent back to the taxi squad. Additionally, Radim Simek was placed on IR.