Despite the Carolina Hurricanes and Philadelphia Flyers game getting canceled late last night, there’s still a full slate of matches on the books for tonight. Seven games including the red-hot Colorado Avalanche taking on the Nashville Predators, Evgeni Malkin potentially making his return, and the Bruce Boudreau-led Vancouver Canucks trying to continue their climb up the Pacific Division standings. As those teams and others prepare for action, we’ll keep track of all the minor league and taxi squad shuffling.
Atlantic Division
- The Buffalo Sabres have reassigned Brett Murray to the taxi squad, giving them another body as they deal with COVID absences. Alex Tuch and Kyle Okposo are out of the protocol and on the ice, but are not expected to play tonight according to John Vogl of The Athletic.
- The Boston Bruins have returned Troy Grosenick and Steven Fogarty to the AHL, while also ending Tuukka Rask’s PTO with the Providence Bruins. That suggests that an NHL deal could be coming down the pipe for Rask, who has yet to actually play a game this season.
- The Tampa Bay Lightning have sent Remi Elie to the Syracuse Crunch, sending him back down after just one game with the big club. The 26-year-old winger has nine points in 13 games with Syracuse this season.
Metropolitan Division
- The New York Rangers have recalled Tyler Wall to the taxi squad, giving them an extra netminder for the time being. Wall, 23, has split this season between the AHL and ECHL, posting a .900 save percentage in eight games with the Jacksonville Icemen. Later in the day, they sent Wall, Tarmo Reunanen, and Nils Lundkvist back to the AHL while recalling Braden Schneider. If Schneider gets into a game, he’ll be making his NHL debut after just 26 career games in the minor leagues.
- After his third career start didn’t go quite as well as the first two, Zach Fucale has been sent back to the AHL by the Washington Capitals. The club will go back to Vitek Vanecek and Ilya Samsonov, but now at least know that Fucale can handle himself at the NHL level.
- The Pittsburgh Penguins have officially activated Evgeni Malkin from injured reserve, but needed a few additional players for tonight’s game as they deal with COVID-related absences. Louis Domingue, Anthony Angello and Radim Zohorna have all been recalled to the main roster.
Central Division
- Mikhail Berdin has been sent back to the Manitoba Moose from the Winnipeg Jets taxi squad, where he can play tomorrow night. The Moose are one of the best teams in the AHL this season but it’s not necessarily because of Berdin, who has just an .896 save percentage in 16 appearances. Now that he’s out of COVID protocol, the Jets have also sent Arvid Holm to the AHL.
- The Arizona Coyotes have made several recalls to fill in for their COVID placements, bringing up Victor Soderstrom, Vladislav Kolyachonok and Ivan Prosvetov to the taxi squad. Soderstrom, 20, is one of the top defensive prospects in the world and has played in nine games for the Coyotes this season. Selected 11th overall, he has 12 points in 17 games at the minor league level.
- The St. Louis Blues have recalled both Nathan Walker and Calle Rosen to the taxi squad, with more changes likely coming before game time on Thursday. The Blues are dealing with several COVID-related absences and will need to make adjustments, though this time around the league has rules that help out in emergency recall situations.
- The Nashville Predators have recalled Cole Smith and Matt Luff to the active roster, the former coming directly from the AHL. Smith, 26, is only in his second season of professional hockey but has 17 points in 27 games for the Milwaukee Admirals and has played in two games for the Predators.
Pacific Division
- The Los Angeles Kings have moved Samuel Fagemo and Jacob Moverare to the taxi squad once again, a near-daily transaction for the club. Moverare finally made his NHL debut but Fagemo still hasn’t, despite being recalled several times. The 21-year-old forward does have ten goals and 14 points in 26 games for the Ontario Reign this season.
- The Edmonton Oilers have loaned Markus Niemelainen to the AHL, though the big defenseman showed well in his NHL opportunity and could be back before long. The 23-year-old Niemelainen has played in seven games this season, and though he is still looking for his first NHL point, it’s the 6’5″ presence that was so impressive.
This page will be updated throughout the day