Four Potential PTO’s That Could Make Sense For The Avalanche

We know the Colorado Avalanche are likely to bring in a guy or two to training camp on a PTO (player tryout), but who could it be?

There isn’t a ton of quality left on the free agent market, and anyone that is left on the market has question marks surrounding their game. That’s why, at this point, a tryout makes more sense than a guaranteed contract. Let these players come to camp, see if they can hang on the Avalanche, and potentially earn a deal. There’s not a ton of risk in something like that, and it could pay off.

Last Fall, it was Joel Kiviranta who came to camp on a PTO. He didn’t earn an NHL deal immediately, but went to the AHL, worked hard, and eventually got one.

Who are some names that make sense for the Avalanche to take a look at in training camp?

Dominik Kubalik

The Avalanche apparently scouted the Ottawa Senators quite a bit last year with some of their off-season pickups, and maybe they didn’t like what they saw in Kubalik, but he’d make sense if they need a scoring winger to take a look at in camp.

Kubalik doesn’t provide much else other than scoring goals, but he can score. He does strike me as one of those guys who scores a lot of goals on bad teams, but he’s worth a look if you aren’t guaranteeing him a contract. He’s coming off the worst season of his NHL career, but had scored between 15-30 goals the previous four seasons.

There were rumblings he may head back to Switzerland, but I haven’t seen any confirmation of that being the case.

Steven Lorentz

Stop me if you’ve heard me mention this name before.

Well, it’s now August 17 and he doesn’t have an NHL contract, so I’m more incline to say just invite him to training camp and see if he can earn one. We’ve gone over Lorentz before, so we really don’t have to do this all again, but he’s big, physical, has killed penalties before, and can play a bit of center. The 28 year old is also now officially a Stanley Cup winner. He’d be an easy depth piece to bring to camp and see if he can challenge for a spot in the bottom six.

Filip Zadina

Is he likely to fulfill the potential that everyone thought he had when he went 6th overall back in the 2018 NHL Draft? Nope, but as a camp body and a team that could maybe use some skill up front, he wouldn’t be the worst guy to bring in.

Zadina signed with San Jose last summer for a shot at more ice-time and a bigger role, and it didn’t work. At 24, he’s probably running out of chances to show he belongs in the NHL. I highly doubt he can hang in the top six on a team that has Cup aspirations, but you never know when things just click for a guy. That’s why you bring him into camp on a PTO as opposed to giving him a contract.

James van Riemsdyk

Does the veteran of over 1,000 games still have anything left in the tank? Could he keep up on the Avalanche? He did put up 38 points last season for the Bruins, so he’s got some scoring ability left, but speed is the real question. Any questions you have about him could be answered in training camp on a PTO.