Patrick Johnston: Some Canucks kids could crack their standby taxi squad
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The Province Hockey
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Teams this season are being allowed to keep a handful of AHLers in town to avoid dealing with quarantining call-ups during the COVID-19 pandemic With the 2020-21 roster modifications now set in stone, pencilling out the edges of the Vancouver Canucks’ lineup is now a clearer task. Assuming the Canucks don’t sign another defenceman with NHL experience — rumours suggest there has been interest in Travis Hamonic, for instance — they’ll go into the new season with their sixth and seventh defencemen having just a single game of NHL experience between them and just two more games of NHL exposure for their eighth and ninth defencemen.
Jalen Chatfield, who has yet to suit up for an NHL game but who spent a lot of the 2019-20 season on the Canucks’ roster, seems the most likely face to be the seventh defenceman.
The agreement between the NHL and the NHL Players’ Association that will govern this season also allows for a “taxi squad” comprised of four to six players.
Here are a handful of candidates to occupy spots on the taxi squad, at least to start the season: The big, speedy winger is the most experienced of this bunch: he’s played in 65 NHL games over the past five seasons, including two for the Canucks last year.
Benning has already addressed the team’s hopes that Hoglander will prove himself to be ready for NHL minutes this season and while there’s little chance he starts the season in the NHL — there’s just no space for him, given cap constraints and lineup needs — he would seem a perfect fit for the strange world of the taxi squad.
There were repeated calls for him to be given some NHL minutes and there’s little doubt this is a make-or-break season for him.
Jalen Chatfield, who has yet to suit up for an NHL game but who spent a lot of the 2019-20 season on the Canucks’ roster, seems the most likely face to be the seventh defenceman.
The agreement between the NHL and the NHL Players’ Association that will govern this season also allows for a “taxi squad” comprised of four to six players.
Here are a handful of candidates to occupy spots on the taxi squad, at least to start the season: The big, speedy winger is the most experienced of this bunch: he’s played in 65 NHL games over the past five seasons, including two for the Canucks last year.
Benning has already addressed the team’s hopes that Hoglander will prove himself to be ready for NHL minutes this season and while there’s little chance he starts the season in the NHL — there’s just no space for him, given cap constraints and lineup needs — he would seem a perfect fit for the strange world of the taxi squad.
There were repeated calls for him to be given some NHL minutes and there’s little doubt this is a make-or-break season for him.