Ice Breakers: Eric Staal among three players still unsigned, remaining with team on PTO

With the 2022-23 NHL season officially underway, Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli and Mike McKenna appeared Thursday on Daily Faceoff Live to examine the last few professional tryouts that remain across the league, and the likelihood they’ll turn into contracts.

Mike McKenna: “Something that I’ve been a part of in my career are PTOs – professional tryouts. Quite a few of them around the NHL this year. Some have turned into contracts, but there’s still several left in the NHL. Who are they and what does it look like maybe on the contract front for them?”

Frank Seravalli: “Yeah, so there were 42 guys that entered camp on tryouts this year. A number of them earned deals. We saw Zach Aston-Reese in Toronto, we saw Calvin de Haan in Carolina, there’s been a whole slew of them. But there’s three guys that are still outstanding that don’t have deals yet, and also have not been released from their PTO. They include Eric Staal in Florida, Artem Anisimov in Philly and Rocco Grimaldi in Anaheim. 

“The deal with Eric Staal is kind of interesting and it actually ties both Staal and Anisimov together a little bit, in that there’s familiarity with the coach. Paul Maurice, he knows Eric’s style quite well from his days in Carolina, and in this case, his brother Marc Staal is on the Panthers blueline. Eric Staal didn’t quite earn a contract, they liked what they saw from him in camp but they don’t have the cap space to actually go out and sign him to one. They have $0 in cap space.

“So in the meantime, Eric Staal, who did not play in the league last year is going to keep playing with the team in practice, in the hopes that he can earn that contract. They’re going to be patient with him and see if some cap space will develop and see if he’s needed. Given that familiarity with his brother there and the coaching staff, he feels quite comfortable that something could potentially work out. 

“As far as Anisimov, he broke his foot in camp, but he did of course play for John Tortorella previously, so they have that history. They’re going to give him time for that foot to heal, and then see if he earns a contract after that. I would imagine since he is sticking around with the team, that he’s probably got a good shot to do that. And Grimaldi was offered an AHL PTO, not all that different than what Jason Demers did with the Oilers, going down to Bakersfield. They’d like to keep him in the organization in San Diego in the AHL and it’s up to him as to whether or not that’ll happen.”

Mike McKenna: “The Eric Staal one kind of reminds me of Justin Williams and Carolina, you know? Stick around for a little while, then end up deciding to play maybe midway through, maybe some cap space that opens up, so we’ll see what those players do. Nice that they’ve got an avenue.”

You can listen to the full episode of Daily Faceoff Live below.