At the Season Launch Event last week, we asked Pierre Dorion about Professional Tryout Agreements or as they are more affectionately known, PTOs.
The Senators GM spoke at length about his thought process and at the centre of it, was the idea that you don’t bring a guy in unless you think there is a real chance he can push for a spot on your team. It doesn’t automatically have to be on an NHL roster, he added, but it has to be with a certain degree of confidence that the player you’re bringing in has a legitimate opportunity to earn a job. Otherwise, you’re wasting the player’s time and you’re taking away a Training Camp spot from somebody already in your organization.
At the same time, he was clear that it wasn’t a defenceman they had in mind on a potential PTO.
It was that context that made this morning’s announcement particularly interesting as the Senators announced that they are bringing two forwards into Training Camp on PTOs. Former-Senator Derrick Brassard and 2014 first round pick Michael Dal Colle will be on the ice when Camp opens next week.
On the surface, it would be pretty shocking to see either of those guys force their way into the NHL lineup but obviously Dorion believes they can make a case. Because as Dorion said, he’s not handing out a PTO just to do a guy a favour.
In Brassard, the Senators are adding a familiar face and another option at centre. The now 34-year old Brassard split last season between Philadelphia and Edmonton and put up 19 points in 46 games. Those numbers obviously don’t jump off the page but Brassard has a ton of experience in the league (951 games) and can certainly add some organizational depth, should this PTO materialize into an actual contract offer.
Dorion seemed to think he might be able to push the other centres a little bit.
“This is just something that we felt we needed to do. It’s very simple: Derick is someone we targeted. Right now, we have four centres penciled in. Having a healthy competition at that position is something we always look forward to. He (Brassard) is going to come in and he’s going to play exhibition games at centre. We’ll see what he’s got left.”
Meanwhile, Michael Dal Colle is a former high-end prospect that has just 112 games of NHL experience under his belt and just one game in the show last year. A left winger, he seems like he would be a great fit with the team in Belleville but he’ll have a chance to show what he can do at the Main Camp.
PTOs are generally met with appropriate levels of skepticism but the idea of a little extra veteran experience at Camp seems like a good thing. We’ll see where these guys fit next week.
Oh and the Ottawa Senators play a hockey game tomorrow!
