With the playoffs just around the corner, the taxi squad shuffle will start to look a little bit different. Instead of constant swapping between the active roster and taxi squad, teams will likely just make mass additions the way they usually recall “Black Aces.” That is, players who will practice with the playoff roster but aren’t expected to actually suit up for any game action. We’ll still keep track of any moves right here:
- After resting several regulars last night, the Montreal Canadiens have sent Alex Belzile, Jesse Ylonen, Xavier Ouellet and Cayden Primeau to the AHL. The Laval Rocket still have three games to play but their regular season schedule will be finished before the Canadiens actually start their first-round playoff series against Toronto. With that in mind, several players will likely be recalled once again in a few days.
- The Tampa Bay Lightning recalled Boris Katchouk, Taylor Raddysh, Andreas Borgman, Cal Foote and Spencer Martin from the Syracuse Crunch, giving them a Black Aces group to help prepare for the playoffs. Syracuse has just one game remaining on Saturday before they shut the doors on a shortened AHL season.
- The Ottawa Senators have sent Olle Alsing, Jonathan Aspirot, J.C. Beaudin, Clark Bishop, Logan Brown, Filip Gustavsson, Parker Kelly and Lassi Thompson to the AHL. That’s a ton of reinforcements for the five games the Belleville Senators have left on the schedule.
- With several starters resting tonight, the Minnesota Wild have recalled forwards Luke Johnson and Kyle Rau and defenseman Dakota Mermis from the taxi squad. All three have suited up for Minnesota at times this season.
This page will be updated with further transactions