As the National Hockey League preseason nears, teams are starting to prepare their rosters – often a mix of their signed roster players, recent draft picks, and maybe a few invites in between. Typically, these invites come in the form of Professional Tryouts, or PTOs, and two of Canada’s seven NHL teams have already made the plunge into that side of the market.
The Calgary Flames are taking a chance on defenceman Tyson Barrie, while the Ottawa Senators are seriously turning back the clock and giving forward Nikolay Kulemin an opportunity to potentially re-enter the NHL after spending the last six seasons in Russia’s Kontinental Hockey League.
Why These Guys And These Teams?
In Kulemin’s case, the drive to return might be more personal than financial. After all, the forechecking forward has continued to produce over a half-point per game back in Russia well into his late 30s. He would likely have no trouble maintaining another year’s paycheck as an established name.
At the same time, Kulemin has some personal interest in being back in Canada. His son Aleks is playing U16 AAA minor hockey in Toronto this season, which puts him in a position to potentially be drafted into the Major Junior ranks. He’s also got a business ally in former Maple Leafs linemate Mikhail Grabovski, and helped him with hockey schools over the summer. The Senators, as such, are an ideal spot for Kulemin to land if he can prove he still has the talent, as they’d return him to Ontario as a resident.
If he still has some of what he brought to the league in his heyday, Kulemin could bring the Senators a level of forward depth that gets them a little closer to returning to the playoffs.
For Barrie, the opportunity to play with the Flames would shift the perception of his career back around. The 32-year-old struggled mightily with the Nashville Predators last year, following up a 55-point season with just a goal and 14 assists in 41 games. For the first time in his career, he found himself out of the lineup for performance reasons.
Barrie, once seen as one of the league’s premier offensive defencemen, has refound his spark in Alberta before, fitting in well as Evan Bouchard’s precursor in Edmonton for two and a half seasons after losing some shine in Toronto. While rebuilding, the Flames need a few talented veterans who can make plays with the puck. Even if this doesn’t end up being a fit for the long haul, Barrie’s experience on and off the ice could make him a good short-term presence around Calgary’s defensive prospects like Zayne Parekh and Hunter Brzustewicz during camp.
Calgary Flames to Make The Playoffs
Have PTOs Worked Out in the Past?
Professional Tryouts are far from a sure thing in terms of effectiveness – after all, you’re scraping from the last remaining handful of free agents, who haven’t been able to pry a commitment from other teams.
One example of a PTO paying off big for a Canadian team is the Montreal Canadiens and Tomas Fleischmann in 2015/16. Fleischmann impressed in camp earned himself a contract, and became a decent option for the team throughout the year, producing ten goals and ten assists in 57 games. More importantly, they packaged him with Dale Weise in a trade deadline move to acquire Phil Danault and a second-round draft pick, which was pivoted into Alexander Romanov, who was then pivoted into Kirby Dach. In other words, Fleischmann’s tryout helped them a little in the short term and, in moving him after, a lot in the medium-long term.
Another positive example is Mason Raymond, who put up 19 goals and 45 points with Toronto following a tryout in 2013/14. One thing you have to do is be careful that your tryout doesn’t become another team’s gain – Kris Versteeg, for example, tried out with the Oilers ahead of 2016/17 and the audition caught the eyes of the Flames instead, which earned them a 15-goal, 37-point player for the year. Edmonton got it right two years later, however, signing Alex Chiasson to a PTO and parlaying that into a solid contributor to their roster for the next three years.
Ottawa Senators to Make The Playoffs
Giordano Another Name To Keep An Eye On
One player who is worth keeping tabs on for a potential PTO, at least in the context of Canadian teams, is Mark Giordano. Should he play for another year, the soon-to-be 41-year-old would be the league’s elder statesman, but can still contribute a little as a sheltered, rotational defenceman.
If nothing else, the experience of being a Norris winner and a former captain of two NHL teams – not to mention one who had to claw his way from being an undrafted free agent at both the junior and professional levels – would help any room.
According to a report from Sportsnet, the Toronto native has had discussions with the Oilers, Flames, and Leafs. All three teams would make some degree of sense – Edmonton could use one more cheap defensive piece after the St. Louis offer sheets expedited some reconstructive surgery to their blue line, the Flames would presumably like to have the veteran presence of a franchise legend back in the fold, and Toronto is his hometown team and his most recent place of play.
My guess is that he’ll latch on to one of the three in the coming weeks, and we’ll see if he has enough left in the tank to earn a spot for the year.
