Blues Taxi Squad

[Brian39]

I genuinely don't understand the point of the taxi squad and the requirement to carry 3 goalies.

As we've seen in the NFL, COVID outbreaks and the contact tracing isolations hit position groups because they spend time together. By carrying your 3rd goalie with your NHL team, you put them in the same locker room, on the same sheet of ice, in the same video room and working with the same goalie coach as your 2 NHL goalies. So your goalie coach tests positive for COVID and now you have to isolate everyone he had close contact with. Which means all 3 goalies you are carrying with your NHL team. Instead of scrambling to figure out how to deal with COVID restrictions to get your 3rd string goalie from the AHL to the NHL, now you are dealing with the same restrictions to get your 4th string goalie from the AHL to the NHL.

There don't appear to be any restrictions preventing the taxi squad from co-mingling with the NHL roster and the actual intention appears to be the opposite. The goal seems to be to get these guys in the facility and on the ice with the NHL team as much as possible to keep them in game shape. We're just increasing the amount of people in the same sized space.

What am I missing here?

 

[Stupendous Yappi]

Our AHL affiliate has opted out of the season, so that means our taxi squad will likely have all of our top pro-prospects on it. We are faced with the reality that our only option to develop our own prospects is to have them on the taxi squad to practice with the NHL team or go to Utica. I'd wager that our prospects will get 2nd tier usage compared to Vancouver's, so this leaves us in a bit of a pickle.

This is a major development that impacts decision making about the taxi squad.

Apparently there were 9 Vancouver prospects on the team last year. If you subtract their own taxi squad, it makes me think there is probably more flexibility for usage for Blues prospects in the AHL. It’s not ideal, but not a disaster.

 

[BlueDream]

I genuinely don't understand the point of the taxi squad and the requirement to carry 3 goalies.

As we've seen in the NFL, COVID outbreaks and the contact tracing isolations hit position groups because they spend time together. By carrying your 3rd goalie with your NHL team, you put them in the same locker room, on the same sheet of ice, in the same video room and working with the same goalie coach as your 2 NHL goalies. So your goalie coach tests positive for COVID and now you have to isolate everyone he had close contact with. Which means all 3 goalies you are carrying with your NHL team. Instead of scrambling to figure out how to deal with COVID restrictions to get your 3rd string goalie from the AHL to the NHL, now you are dealing with the same restrictions to get your 4th string goalie from the AHL to the NHL.

There don't appear to be any restrictions preventing the taxi squad from co-mingling with the NHL roster and the actual intention appears to be the opposite. The goal seems to be to get these guys in the facility and on the ice with the NHL team as much as possible to keep them in game shape. We're just increasing the amount of people in the same sized space.

What am I missing here?

Huh?

It’s because there are going to be positive tests and this allows for more players with the team that can be inserted into the lineup if guys are out instead of having to go through tons of call ups and waivers. That also reduces making guys travel when injuries occur since the taxi squad is already there.

There’s a reason why the NFL had expanded practice squads this year. It’s the same thing.

Your goalie example makes some sense but that shouldn’t really affect the other positions.