Taxi Squads return, Red Wings prep for return to ice Dec. 29 at Islanders

DETROIT - All indications are that Detroit Red Wings hockey is on the climb back before we turn the calendar to 2022. And for the time being, the short trek from Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids to Little Caesars Arena in Detroit could become an increasingly familiar one for several prospects in the Red Wings' system.
The NHL and NHLPA announced on Sunday night that "Taxi Squads" are set to return through the final game prior to the All-Star break. Clubs are permitted to assign up to six players to their Taxi Squad for a maximum of 20 cumulative days. Those players need to be added to the active roster before playing in an NHL game.

On Monday afternoon, the Red Wings announced the additions of left wing Riley Barber, defensemen Dan Renouf and Luke Witkowski and goaltender Victor Brattstrom to the taxi squad from the AHL's Grand Rapids Griffins.
After not playing since Dec. 18 due to postponements surrounding the pandemic, the Red Wings are scheduled to resume their season this Wednesday, Dec. 29 against the New York Islanders at UBS Arena.
The Taxi Squad arrangement, of course, is only new to the Seattle Kraken, who are in their first year playing in the NHL. The other 31 clubs across the NHL spent the entirety of the 2020-21 season under a similar provision.
The proximity of the Griffins and the Red Wings could continue to be an advantage under the Taxi Squad policy. Players called up can jump in their vehicles, and be in Detroit in less than three hours traveling east on I-96.
It's a process Executive Vice President and General Manager Steve Yzerman is used to throughout a normal season. As the pandemic continues to evolve, it becomes a bit more visible, and can change from day-to-day.
"Ultimately, Steve Yzerman handles the Taxi Squad decisions," Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill said on Monday. "It has a lot to do with just roster management in a lot of facets, there's a lot that goes into it beyond who's here.

"Ultimately, the conversations that I have with it is just about making sure that we have enough guys to practice as best we can, and making sure that we have enough guys, certainly, to play. And then making sure that you don't get caught with guys testing positive and then you don't have enough guys. So that's what the impetus is, and we'll utilize it as we need to."
Detroit currently has eight players in the NHL's COVID protocol, including Adam Erne, Sam Gagner, Nick Leddy, Alex Nedeljkovic, Jordan Oesterle, Lucas Raymond, Joe Veleno, and Filip Zadina. Carter Rowney, Givani Smith and Pius Suter came out of protocol prior to Monday's skate.
Players and coaches have varying timelines to exit protocol. Raymond tested positive prior to Christmas, so his timeline for a possible return to the club is different than Leddy's.
Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill and assistant coach Alex Tanguay also exited protocol and were with the team on Monday. The Red Wings also held a light skate with available players on Sunday.

It's clear that Detroit won't be able to field a full lineup for Wednesday's scheduled game on Long Island. But most teams across the league are in a similar predicament, and the goal remains the same, to win games with the roster available.
"Well certainly, there will be challenges. But I know that the Islanders won't care. And they may still have some of their own challenges," Blashill said. "I know they've faced some throughout the course of this year.
"If the league says that the right thing to do for the National Hockey League is to play the game, then we're gonna go there and go to win the hockey game. I don't believe in letting anything be an excuse. So will there be challenges? For sure, there's challenges. There will be guys that haven't skated much over the next couple of days that hopefully are able to get out of the protocol and be able to skate."
Blashill and his staff will also be charged with monitoring how quickly players can return to their normal form and impact. Blashill learned last season that every situation is different.
"I learned a little bit last year, going through that," Blashill said. "One of the things that I learned was each guy's a little different in terms of how quickly they're able to get their game up and running close to what their normal is. What affects that, certainly, how sick guys are. Some guys have very minimal to no symptoms, and some guys - it hasn't seemed to be this way this time around, but some guys have a little bit more symptoms. Because of that, some guys have been able to do a little bit more on their own than others."
Blashill beaming with American pride
When Blashill addressed the media on Sunday, he was proudly wearing a USA Hockey pullover in support of the Americans as the 2022 IIHF World Junior Championship got underway.
"I certainly want to wish luck to Nate Leaman and his staff, and I'll be living in it [USA Hockey gear] with good confidence as we move through this tournament."
Blashill himself recovering
Blashill began feeling symptoms - most notably a cough - on the way home from Carolina on Dec. 16. His other symptoms were consistent with a cold. On Sunday, he took time to address the ongoing uncertainty of the pandemic, and recognized NHL officials for making calculated decisions in the interest of player, coach and support staff safety.
"I think the NHL - as they've done a good job of throughout the course of this whole pandemic - I think they're taking information in, and making decisions when they have to, and not necessarily before they have to," Blashill said.
Blashill also commented on the anxiousness he senses among his team, which differs from player to player, and if they have contracted the virus or not.
"We're confident in the system," he said. "I don't know if anyone knows the exact, best way to handle what we're all going through, and that's trying to run a professional sports league and play games within this pandemic. They're hard decisions that are being made here. I had two tests that day [in Carolina]. What more can you do?
"In the end, I contracted the virus at some point and tested positive the next day. There's just not much more we can do that way. Are people anxious? I'm sure the guys that haven't yet tested positive are anxious, I'm certain of that. This seems to be highly transmissible, and there's lots of people in all our lives who have tested positive here in the last little bit. We're all anxious, we'd all love it to not be the case, but this is the world in which we're living in right now, and we gotta find every way possible to make the most out of it."

Big picture evaluations
Blashill and his coaching staff have taken advantage of the sudden break in the schedule to evaluate ways in which the club can improve when it is back at full strength. Defensively, Blashill pointed out the need to cut down on giving up high-level scoring chances. And as always, the power play and penalty kill continue to be a focus.
"I think we are improving, but defensive Grade A chances have to improve," Blashill said. "We're one of the worst teams in the league in giving up Grade-A's per 60 minutes in D-zone coverage, and that's an area that I think is fixable. It doesn't mean we're gonna move to first by the end of the year, because it's hard to move up the rankings, but from this break moving forward, we have to continue to get better in that area.
"I had good conversations with both of our assistants over the break about specialty teams, and that's obviously another area," Blashill said. "We didn't win enough of the specialty teams battle through these first 31 games, and yet our record is probably better than it could be, than it maybe should have been given the fact that we didn't win enough of those specialty teams battles. We feel that if we can improve in that Grade-A, D-zone chances against, and we can improve in our specialty teams as we move forward, it will make us a lot better hockey team."
Yzerman media availability takeaways
While he addressed the media on Dec. 16, well before the NHL announced the return of Taxi Squads and prior to recent roster announcements, Yzerman had some notable comments about the progression of the Red Wings on the ice.
On the extension for Robby Fabbri
"I believe Robby has been a very good player for us. My intention was to resign him. The age he's at, he's right in the mix with what I call our veterans, and that's Dylan Larkin, Tyler Bertuzzi. These guys are really young. He's performed really well for us. The term and the dollar amount was agreeable for both parties, and what's held Robby back in his career has only been some injuries. Over the last two years, since he's arrived with us, forget COVID, testing positive and missing games - he's only gotten better as a player and he's a very valuable player for us. We were able to work out a contract that made sense for both parties and I'm very happy to have him here."
On the development of Moritz Seider and Lucas Raymond
"We watched both of them last year. Moritz playing 20-plus minutes a night, I think, in Rögle. Our thought was that he would be ready to play in the NHL at the start of the season. With Lucas, a little bit different, because he didn't play a big role for Frölunda, and he got injured and missed a lot of time at the end of the season. So going into the year, we really weren't sure what to expect from Lucas. We didn't want to rule him out from playing, but truthfully, we kinda thought it's probably gonna take some time in the American Hockey League, just based on what we saw last year. With each day, starting with the first day of our rookie tournament in Traverse City, Lucas has gotten better and better. After whatever, 30 games in the NHL, he's one of our top players. He looks extremely comfortable out there. His play in all aspects of the game is solid. Are they exceeding our expectations? Maybe so, but I don't think watching them, they're doing anything that they can't sustain or if anything, improve upon."