None of it makes sense. Anyone they recall after midnight is on the roster until 12/28. What’s the worst that could have happened if they left Drury here and Aho was ready? 13 forwards? Ooh, surplus! If they wanted to keep Drury in the lineup, Stastny or Stepan could have been scratched.
Are there different rules for emergency recalls? If so, I can see a scenario where Drury is an emergency recall tomorrow who can be sent down when Aho is healthy, regardless of the freeze.
So the freeze in the CBA comes after 11:59PM on December 19th and lifts on December 28th
It's not absolute that no one can be sent back to the minors during the freeze (see below)
CBA 16.5.d.ii:
Notwithstanding Section 16.5(d)(i), a Player on emergency Recall may be
Loaned during the roster freeze period and a Player who was Recalled
after December 11 may be Loaned through 11:59 p.m. local time on
December 23, provided such Player is not required to be placed on
Waivers during the roster freeze period in order to effectuate such Loan.
So that might be it andyt.
If they didn't alter this in the MOA, then the way I read this is that you can make emergency recalls and return that emergency recall to the minors during the Holiday roster freeze. You could also send a player who was called up after December 11th (any type of callup) back to the minors up to December 23th.
This seems to indicate the Canes could recall Drury tomorrow as an emergency recall for Aho which would allow them to send Drury back to Chicago at any point in time during the roster freeze if they wanted to if Aho can play.
The advantage there I suppose for the Canes is that if Aho can play Friday, they could send Drury down to Chicago after tomorrow night's game so he could play in the Wed, Thr, Fri games Chicago has on the schedule this week. If they didn't make Drury an emergency recall, he would be stuck with the Canes until Dec 28th, potentially missing an opportunity to play some games for Chicago this week.
Smart roster management maybe?