We're nearly at the start of the NHL's training camps, and Adam Proteau says fringe NHLers are on pro tryout offers to prove they still belong in hockey's ultimate league.

As we get closer to the beginning of the NHL’s 2024-25 training camp, players who’ve yet to land contracts are being offered professional tryout offers (PTO) by teams seeking low-risk, decent-reward results on the free agent front. Leading the list are veteran defenseman Tyson Barrie, who is heading to Calgary on a PTO, as well as former Florida Panthers forward Steven Lorentz, who agreed to a PTO with the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Meanwhile, journeyman goalie Michael Hutchinson signed a PTO with the New Jersey Devils, who also extended a PTO to former Boston defenseman Jakub Zboril. Longtime New York Islander Nikolay Kulemin signed a PTO with the Ottawa Senators, and the Sens also gave a PTO to former Wild and Sharks defenseman Calen Addison.

In all of the above cases – and more PTOs to come – veteran players on PTOs are fighting for the smallest piece of the league’s financial pie. Just sticking with the NHL team they’re trying out with is the main goal for these veterans. There’s not likely to be a multi-year contract extended to any of the aforementioned players. Instead, they’re almost certainly going to get one-year deals at somewhere near or at the league’s minimum salary of $750,000 and hope they can earn a longer contract next summer.

This has always been the way the NHL has worked in the salary cap era. Essential players – core players – get the big money and long-term deals they’re looking for. Everyone else – rookies at the start of their pro hockey career, and veterans close to the end of their NHL days – have to battle it out for the financial scraps that are left over. Some veterans make a purely financial choice and leave the NHL for greener pastures in Europe or Russia’s Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). And some choose the challenge that comes with a PTO.

If you’re a player currently on a PTO, the best possible scenario is to win a roster spot this fall, keep their head down and demonstrate during the regular season that they’ve still got what it takes to be an NHL player beyond this season. And if things don’t work out in training camp, PTO players are free to wait things out and potentially sign a more lucrative contract with a team that has salary cap space opened up due to injuries.

It’s a calculated gamble to accept a PTO, but there’s no other option for players in this position. For one reason or another, they’re in beggars-can’t-be-choosers mode, and a PTO is better than no offer at all. Their challenge now is to show teams they made the right choice by leaving the door slightly open to them and giving them what could be one last shot at playing in hockey’s best league.

On a basic level, the NHL is still a meritocracy, and PTOs are a reflection of that reality. Players who are on tryout deals need to be at their best to survive the chopping block, and if they can’t do that, their predicament will be bleak until further notice.