The Pittsburgh Penguins have combed the college’s freelance agents and picked a few prospects from the draft, and could carry a raw but talented cab squad for the 2020-21 NHL season. General Manager Jim Rutherford threw the door wide open to secure a place on the team and on the newly created taxi team.
As part of the new season, the NHL has set up a taxi team for four to six players, which enables the teams to “deploy” immediately in the event of injuries or COVID-19 infections. Financially, the additional squad will act as a local minor league team. Players with one-way contracts who are not exempt from the exemption must clear the exemption for the penguins in order to add them to the taxi team.
And just like burying a minors veterans contract, the CBA rules limit salary cap savings to the first $ 1.075 million.
The penguins picked two touted freelance college agents, Cam Lee from West Michigan, Drew O’Connor from Dartmouth and Josh Maniscalco from Arizona. It would be a big surprise for Lee to make the leap to the NHL, but perhaps not so surprising to Maniscalco, who lit the scoreboard at ASU, or O’Connor, who was loaned to a team in the Norwegian Elite League.
You mean you didn’t quit work at lunchtime on match days to watch the action?
“We’ll see how the guys play and where they are and at what level they play. We have some prospects of being in the taxi squad, ”said Rutherford. “And we have some people who will be knocking on the door to make the team. We really like … Lee and O’Connor. “
The short training camp starts on January 3rd, lasts a maximum of 10 days and excludes exhibition games. The regular season kicks off January 13, and teams that have a salary cap like the Pittsburgh Penguins could cleverly stack their taxi squad with an extra NHL player. Young players have much less time to acclimate and prove themselves. And the teams will make the crucial decision whether the players benefit from practicing with the NHL club or playing with the AHL club.
It’s a tough job, especially for a young defender like Maniscalco. Forwards like O’Connor usually have an easier transition, although O’Connor left Dartmouth after his sophomore year. The 22-year-old forward was under 6 feet in high school but grew to 6 feet 3 while in college.
“We will have a competitive camp and that will determine who will ultimately stay in the taxi squad,” concluded Rutherford.
Neither EuroHockey.com nor Hockeydb show that O’Connor played games or collected statistics for the Manglerud star of the Norwegian league.
Lee, 23, was loaned to Bratislava Slovan from the Latvian League. The left-handed defender tore up the competition by 11 points (2g, 9a) in 14 games.
The “prospects” who come to the door that Rutherford hinted at are best striker Sam Poulin and best defender Pierre-Oliver Joseph. However, Poulin cannot be assigned to the taxi squad as he is only 19 years old. He would return to the QMJHL’s Sherbrooke Phoenix.
Though he could play up to seven games before the Penguins burned the first year of his entry-level contract.
21-year-old Joseph is a classic case where he’s close to the NHL but needs more Ice Age to smooth out rough edges. The Penguins already have five defenders on their left, and wearing Joseph for the taxi team, while durable in a short amount of time, is doubtful for the entire season unless the Penguin Project gets him playing time.
The Penguins will have a climb to reach the playoffs in the extremely competitive Atlantic Division. The compressed schedule for 56 games could be a blessing or a bust for the penguins too. The only area the team could work for you is the taxi team.
Will the Pittsburgh Penguins have depth veterans in store or will the kids be inviting? First we will find out who is ready for this.
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