Earlier this month, the NHL announced that as part of the COVID safety protocol, teams would carry “taxi squad” throughout the 2021 season. The players on the taxi squad will be subject to waivers and be treated as AHLers for salary cap purposes, so teams won’t be able to erase a bad contract by designating someone as one of the alternates. The group will be comprised of anywhere between four and six players with at least one being a goalie.
With these requirements teams are going to have to make decisions based on who they want around to fill in when lineup regulars get injured.