NEWARK, N.J. — Inviting players to NHL training camps with only the promise of a tryout contract isn’t a new concept. PTOs, as those deals are called, are handed out by consistently dominant teams and teams struggling to attain mediocrity alike; the Boston Bruins invited Simon Gagne to their camp on a PTO while the Calgary Flames are looking at Raphael Diaz and Sheldon Brookbank on tryouts.
The New Jersey Devils aren’t immune to training camp PTOs, either, but they have assembled a PTO group that could be the core of a Stanley Cup run.
That run, of course, would have to take place in 2005 or 2006.
Scott Gomez, Ruslan Fedotenko, Tomas Kaberle and Mike Komisarek are all attempting to earn a spot on the Devils roster; their combined numbers during the 2005-06 season: 70 goals, 128 assists. Gomez, Fedotenko and Kaberle had their best seasons statistically in ’05-06 while Komisarek’s 19 points in 2006-07 were a career high.
They took different paths to New Jersey and are all at somewhat different stages of their careers. But they all still have one thing in common: “The hunger is ...
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Article written by Dave Lozo
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September 25th, 2014 by Dave Lozo Leave a reply »
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