Top 3 players Capitals should give PTO contracts to
Unsigned veteran players can earn a contract by an NHL team by signing a professional tryout contract or a PTO. The Washington Capitals have an all but set roster but if they were to sign anybody to a PTO, who are the best three that are available.
You might remember Alex Chiasson. He joined the Caps by making the team out of training camp after singing a PTO in 2017. We all know what happened that season and Chiasson’s goal in Game 6 in Pittsburgh helped make all that spring magic happen.
So if the Caps were to sign anybody to a PTO, who should they pick?
#3 Jay Beagle
We all miss him. Jay Beagle is by far the nicest athlete that ever suited up for the Capitals. And he’s so old fashioned as he doesn’t even have an iPhone or is on social media.
Beagle’s previous cap hit was $3 million. And he’s excellent on face offs. After spending three seasons with the Vancouver Canucks, Beagle played with the Arizona Coyotes last season.
He didn’t play much last season but did appear in 32 games and had a goal and an assist for two points. Those numbers would go up if the Caps were to decide on having a reunion with their Stanley Cup champion.
#2 Anton Stralman
Anton Stralman is a right handed veteran defenseman. He was drafted 216th overall by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the seventh round of the 2005 NHL entry draft. He’s signed six contracts with a total value of $47,445,000 million. He has 293 points in 930 games played over a career that has spanned 15 seasons.
He also has 26 playoff points in 113 postseason games played. His last contract gave him a cap hit of $5.5 million as he played for the very team that eliminated the Caps last season, the Florida Panthers.
One form of payback is snatching up a defenseman. After all as the old saying goes, if you can’t beat him, sign him. What’s very strange according to Cap Friendly was that he was on the Panthers. But Hockey Reference tells me he also played for that clown show of a team in the Arizona Coyotes.
With the Coyotes, he had a career season as he scored eight goals and 15 assists for 23 points. That’s all good but his plus minus was a negative 16. He also did a good job staying out of the box with just 12 penalty minutes.
The Caps are already pretty stocked on defense so it’s highly unlikely they’ll sign a defenseman to a PTO.
#1 Loui Eriksson
Loui Eriksson is a versatile winger who could play on the left or right hand side. He was drafted 33rd overall by the Dallas Stars in the 2003 NHL entry draft. He has signed four contracts so far with a total value of $66,875,000 million.
He’s spent 16 seasons in the NHL recording 613 points in 1,050 games played including 14 playoff points in 44 games played.
He last played for the Vancouver Canucks where he signed a six year, $36 million deal. That included a cap hit of six million per season.
Oh wow another error. Last season he actually played for the Arizona Coyotes. Ugh. I didn’t want to make this a thing with all former Coyotes but here we are.
He had three goals and 16 assists for 19 points in 73 games. Not bad and definitely better than his final season with the Canucks where he played in just seven games.
In addition he also played for the Boston Bruins. He spent seven years with the Stars, five years with the Canucks, three years with the Bruins and last season with the Coyotes.
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Honestly I think the Caps are good and don’t need to sign anybody to a PTO. Unless, of course, they decide to bring back Jay Beagle. Then I’m all for it.