The New Jersey Devils announced that Marian Studenic was added to the taxi squad to make up for the additions of a few players off the COVID-19 protocols. That means he can practice with the NHL coaches and doesn’t have to go back to the Utica Comets. The NHL added taxi squads again after a ton of players came back from the Christmas break only to go back into COVID protocols.
The taxi squads were useful for the Devils last year, who went through one of the worst COVID outbreaks in the league. The Devils started the season with Nolan Foote, Mikhail Maltsev, Nick Merkley, and Gilles Senn on the taxi squad. Three of the four players on that list are no longer on the roster. Senn went to Europe to continue his career. Merkley was traded for Christian Jaros. Maltsev was in the Ryan Graves trade.
The Devils started out with a prospects approach for the taxi squad. They took players who were tweener NHLers. Maltsev showed to be a pretty good player, and the rest had varied results. Once the Devils started to see injuries and COVID cases, the taxi squad changed early and often. However, it always seemed like the same type of player would be on the taxi squad.
That’s exactly what it appears they will be doing with the squad this season. Studenic has been a good player when given the time, but with all the returns, it seems like the Devils don’t see a place for him in the lineup. However, they don’t want to send him back down to Utica. So, they keep him on the taxi squad, and it allows the Devils to hold an extra player on the roster.
With so much of the league dealing with COVID, and the Devils actually escaping cases right now, it’s possible that the team might deal with COVID losses later in the season. Could some veterans be worth putting on the roster just to get through the next few months?
Is it worth it for the Devils to sign veterans to the taxi squad?
We made a joke about putting Travis Zajac on the taxi squad, but that’s not realistic (or is it?). There are some interesting forwards across the league that are still free agents or playing in Europe. Frans Nielsen signed in Germany after no NHL showed interest after his buyout with the Detroit Red Wings. He’s been miserable offensively, but is he worth bringing in for the veteran presence? He does have 14 points in 19 games in the DEL.
Eric Staal is a very interesting name, but would he lose a chance to represent Canada one more time in the Olympics to take a veteran deal with the Devils just to be on their taxi squad? It just doesn’t seem like someone with his caliber of career would do.
One interesting name is Sami Vatanen. The Devils just keep bringing him back after trading him. They put him on waivers last season, and he was claimed by the Dallas Stars to help with the playoff push. Does he like playing in the Swiss National League? Maybe he does, but he’s someone with a history in New Jersey, and it might be worth it for the Devils to have a veteran on the taxi squad with a history with this franchise.
There is a large possibility the Devils can’t get any of these players due to their contracts with their respective teams. However, a lot of the other veterans aren’t even worth considering. (Bobby Ryan would be great, but he’s all in on going to the Olympics.)
The veterans out there aren’t great, and there’s the possibility that these players get to play in the Olympics. This hurts the Devils ability to bring them in on non-guaranteed contracts. So, the Devils will likely fill out their taxi squad with tweener players again. Hopefully, the Devils never need to use them.