Analyzing the “final’ roster & taxi squad
By Steve Paulus
The taxi squad
The six members of the taxi squad include some names that could be surprising. It is no surprise that Tony Bitetto and Colin Blackwell are on it, since they have NHL experience as fill-ins so they know the drill and will be prepared if needed.
Libor Hajek is a player the Rangers desperately want to succeed and he will resume the role he filled in the Stanley Cup Qualifier, the first back up defenseman after Brendan Smith. This really is a make or break year for Hajek who turns 23 in February. If he doesn’t win a job, he will be exposed in the expansion draft.
That leaves Morgan Barron and Matthew Robertson, two players for whom a stint in Hartford would seem to make the most sense. That still may be true since the AHL season won’t be starting for another three weeks. The Rangers had a good experience keeping K’Andre Miller with the big club last summer and they probably hope to replicate that experience with the duo.
At any rate, when the AHL season is ready to start, don’t be surprised to see Robertson and Barron head up I-95 to Hartford.
The final member of the taxi squad is the mandatory third goalie, Keith Kinkaid. This is a curious one as he hasn’t been at a single practice due to an undisclosed medical reason. If it is COVID, as it was in the case of Zibanejad, he may be on the taxi squad, but if anything happens to Igor Shesterkin or Alexandar Georgiev early in the season before Kinkaid can get back on the ice, we could see Adam Huska or Tyler Wall moved up.
There had been some speculation that he could have been claimed off waivers by the Devils who need to replace Cory Crawford. The Devils claimed Eric Comrie from Winnipeg.
The salary cap
The salary cap total for the 22 players is $76,133,133. That’s $5,366,867 under the salary cap ceiling of $81.5 million. That doesn’t mean that they have $5 million to spend as they potentially could have $4,250,000 in performance bonus overages.
Those performance bonuses belong to players on Entry Level Contract (ELC) including Lafrenière, Kakko, Chytil, Gauthier, Fox, Lindgren, Miller and Shesterkin. The only ELC player with no bonus built in is Brett Howden. Considering the roles that these players are penciled into it’s likely that they all will reach at least some of their bonus targets.
Who didn’t make it
Here are the training camp participants who are going to Hartford and notes on each.
Forwards
- Jonny Brodzinski – Always Hartford bound, he’s a veteran of 57 NHL games who will help the Wolf Pack.
- Gabriel Fontaine – He had some good moments at camp,but after three seasons in Hartford, the AHL is probably his future.
- Tim Gettinger – Another player who has had some chances with the Rangers, but at 22 and with more depth on the Rangers, his time is running out.
- Anthony Greco – Like Brodzinski, he was brought in to make Hartford competitive
- Patrick Khodorenko – A collegiate player who needs to hone his craft in the AHL.
- Austin Reuschhoff – Same goes for Reuschhoff, he needs some AHL seasoning.
- Justin Richards – NCAA player Richards missed the entire training camp for medical reasons. He’s supposed to be a defensive wiz who is good on draws. He’ll have to prove that in the AHL.
Defense
- Brandon Crawley – Dropping behind Smith, Bitetto and Hajek on the Rangers depth chart, he will be in Hartford this season.
- Darren Raddysh – Raddysh is the only right shot defenseman in the system not on the big league squad. He’ll be in Hartford all season.
- Tarmo Reunanen – Previously mentioned, he needs to figure out North American hockey after only playing in Finland. He showed huge improvement there this season so we may see him soon.
Goalies
Adam Huska – Going into his second year in Hartford, he is one step away from the taxi squad.
Tyler Wall – Wall was one of the best collegiate goalies and is very highly regarded. He will play a lot in Hartford and it will be worth watching to see if he surpasses Huska on the depth chart.