[transplant99]

Good piece by Mirtle in the Athletic.

Teams will be permitted to repeatedly move players back and forth from the taxi squad – potentially every day. This will be especially true for clubs that need additional cap space.

“The cap shenanigans around the league this year are going to be next level,” one team source said this week.

With a taxi squad of up to six extra players on hand, however, this practice won’t be necessary. If someone is hurt or falls ill at a morning skate, teams will be able to simply pull from the taxi squad – a group that doesn’t count against the cap – rather than having an extra player always on the roster.

When on the road, meanwhile, teams could “send down” players to the taxi squad without them having to board a plane and fly across the country. In most cases, they’d simply be like everyone else on the team – except they suddenly wouldn’t count against the cap.

Why does this matter?

Well, assuming teams take advantage of this in an aggressive fashion and carry fewer roster players for the bulk of the season, we could be talking about millions in savings per team. If the 21st, 22nd and 23rd players on rosters are all on a taxi squad instead of the NHL roster, and they’re on two-way contracts (which carry a lower salary in the minors), the cap savings could in extreme cases add up to more than $3 million per team.

https://theathletic.com/2290023/2020...i-squad-rules/