Habs News: Montreal Canadiens, NHL, Michael Frolik, Claude Julien, Marc Bergevin, Taxi Squad, Salary Cap, Jordan Weal, Alex Belzile, Xavier Ouellet, Charlie Lindgren
ROCKET SPORTS MEDIA | LAVAL, QC. — While I was expecting Marc Bergevin‘s next deal to involve lowering the team’s cap hit, the general manager decided instead on Wednesday to sign Michael Frolik to an one-year contract worth $750,000.
Frolik started last season with the Flames before being traded to the Sabres on January 2nd in exchange for a fourth round draft pick. In 57 total games, he scored six goals and added eight assists.
In his 850 career games with the Panthers, Blackhawks, Jets, Flames, and Sabres, Frolik has shown that he can play well in the defensive zone, which has regularly earned him penalty-kill duties with all the clubs.
Bergevin knows Frolik from the time that they were both with the Blackhawks organization. With the acquisitions of Jake Allen , Joel Edmundson and Tyler Toffoli, Frolik is the fourth player that has won the Stanley Cup who was added to the Canadiens organization during the off-season. In Chicago’s 2012-13 run, Frolik recorded three goals and seven assists in 23 games.
Taxi Squad Regulations
On Tuesday, the National Hockey League (NHL) and National Hockey League Players’ Association (NHLPA) announced transition rules for the 2020-21 season that is scheduled to begin on January 13th.
Similar to the Return-to-Play rules in the summer for the 24-team post-season in Toronto and Edmonton hub cities, each organization will have a taxi squad.
All clubs will be permitted to loan a minimum of four and a maximum of six players to their taxi squad. All such loans will be subject to waiver requirements as applicable. The players on loan to the taxi squad will be permitted to travel and practice with the NHL Club. However, such players can only play in an NHL Game if recalled and placed on the NHL club’s active roster before such NHL Game, and no later than 5:00 p.m. ET.
Strategic Decisions
There are different strategies that teams can use when it comes to the composition of the taxi squad. Organizations can decide to loan their top available players to the taxi squad, while others may choose to send of their top prospects to the American Hockey League (AHL).
For the Canadiens, I believe that the best option is that any prospect that who won’t regularly play with Montreal should be assigned to Laval. This approach would make the most sense assuming that the AHL season begins on February 5th as currently scheduled.
Potential Taxi Squad
For new readers of my column, I regularly take a stab at making projections. It allows me to give myself a tap on my back when I get them right (rarely), and to get tomatoes thrown at when I get them wrong (usually).
The table below shows my projections of the opening night roster against the Maple Leafs on January 13th:
The following table consists of my projected taxi squad:
All the players listed above require to clear waivers before being being loaned to the taxi squad. The fun part of projections is that we can make assumptions, such as that the five individuals wouldn’t be claimed by any other team.
All of the taxi squad’s salary would not be counted towards the Habs cap space, except $325,000 from Jordan Weal‘s contract.
With Folik, Weal, and Alex Belzile on the taxi squad, it would give an opportunity for Ryan Poehling to have considerable ice time in Laval. I believe that it would impede Poehling’s development, if he spent every game night in the press box, like he did during the team’s recent post season appearance.
Xavier Ouellet, acting as Montreal’s eighth defenceman, would give Cale Fleury and Noah Juulsen to have an opportunity to play a lot on Joel Bouchard‘s team. Juulsen would need to clear waivers to head to the AHL.
Each team has to have at least a third goalie with them at all times as specified in the transition rules. Given that there’s no room on Montreal’s active roster, Charlie Lindgren will have a place on the taxi squad. This is the ideal scenario from the organization’s point of view, as it will help with the Rocket’s goaltending depth.
Cap Compliance
When I identified four ways to get the Canadiens below the cap on November 23rd, I assumed that the team would have a 22-player roster, one less than the maximum allowed.
With the addition of a traveling taxi squad, Montreal can save money off the cap by having 21 players on their active roster, and move players back and forth.
It’s no surprise that the schedule of the upcoming 56-game regular season is condensed. There are several times during the 2020-21 season that the Canadiens will be playing three games in four nights.
Cap Saving Strategy
It’s to be expected that young players such as Jake Evans and Alexander Romanov may not play every night. When they’re given the night off, the Canadiens can assign them to the taxi squad in order to save money on the salary cap. Both players are waiver exempt, therefore no risk of losing them to another team.
On defence, Brett Kulak would be on the active roster, therefore not a lot of maneuvering required in terms of waiver requirements. If Michael Frolik or Jordan Weal is needed to jump on the active roster, management will need to be diligent. Frolik or Weal would be moved between the active roster and the taxi squad in order to prolong as much possible the need to be placed on waivers once again.
The Canadiens made similar moves last season when they recalled Charles Hudon four times from the AHL in nine days in November 2019. He never had to present himself to Laval in that period, as the transactions were made in order to delay the need of placing Hudon on waivers.
Just like any plans that have been made since March 2020, they will all be thrown out if COVID interferes.
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By Chris G., Senior Writer
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