Let's take a quick look at the list of PTOs, and note anyone who could have some fantasy relevance this upcoming season if signed.  

Tyson Barrie, CGY 

Barrie is the only one here who would be a presence on a team’s top power play unit. He didn’t fit at all in Nashville, but otherwise has a lot of recent success with power play production. He could easily bump Mackenzie Weegar and Rasmus Andersson off the top unit, that will likely feature Jonathan Huberdeau, Nazem Kadri, Andrei Kuzmenko, and Yegor Sharangovich up front.  

Jakub Vrana, WAS 

Vrana may be on his part NHL chance after inexplicably being pushed out of the lineup in St Louis. He has excellent goal scoring rates despite limited minutes. As a comparable I would value him similarly to Daniel Sprong.  

Max Pacioretty, TOR 

Last year with Washington Pacioretty's shot rates were way down, to only 2.0 per game. He was a top-20 fantasy player in his prime mainly because he was up closer to 4.0 per game. Now he is a few years and two Achilles surgeries removed from being that player, and we have to change our perception of him. Despite the drop in shots, he was serviceable in a middle six role for Washington last season, and Toronto has more goals to go around that Pacioretty could work his way into getting points on. However, there won’t be top power play time for him, and he is almost 36 years old. He could catch lighting in a bottle and have a solid season or fade out of relevance very soon.  

Tanner Pearson, VGK 

Vegas has brought in a lot of lottery ticket players this offseason, and while Pearson starts out behind the others because he’s on a PTO, there’s a lot to like about his situation. Pearson’s best seasons came before a wrist injury that he had now had seven surgeries on to try and fix. It sounds like he’s back to full health now, which could finally mean a return to the 45-point and 120 Hit days. 

Tyler Johnson, BOS 

Boston's top-six is set, but there is room for Tyler Johnson to come in and fill the role of bottom-six & PP2 player that James van Reimsdyk played last year. Johnson had some success last year on a barren offence in Chicago, even without much exposure to Connor Bedard, so with a bit more support around we could see a rise in points.  

Calen Addison, OTT 

If Ottawa didn't already have two power play QBs in Jake Sanderson and Thomas Chabot, plus run Jacob Chyckrun and Erik Brannstrom out of town, Addison might be higher on this list just based on the upside he showed in his pre-NHL games. Unfortunately that scoring upside has been swallowed up by an inability to manage the rest of the NHL game to this point. If Addison can add some pace and awareness to his game, the offensive tools are already there.  

Kevin LaBanc, NJ

LaBanc is years removed from fantasy relevance, but in New Jersey as a PP2 specialist there could be some value. He wasn’t able to be properly sheltered and supported in San Jose like he needs in order to thrive, but the Devils could give him that opportunity.

Kailer Yamamoto, UTA

Yamamoto is landing in one of the best spots as Utah doesn’t have a set top-six, so with an excellent camp he could carve out a role. As an undersized offensive player he needs a scoring role in order to succeed, so it’s top-six or bust.  

Eetu Makiniemi, PHI 

Another book or bust option, Makiniemi could just be in camp trying to win an AHL spot (especially as it seems Alexei Kolosov isn’t reporting) but he’s one big slump of injury away from being one of the two NHL goalies. He's 25 now, and has had some mixed results in the AHL depending on the team in front of him. My take is that you never know with goalies, so I'm at least keeping an eye on him.  

Sam Gagner, EDM

The lineup in Edmonton is generally filled out, but with the injury to Evander Kane there is a temporary spot in the top-nine. Gagner is also a power play merchant, and while the Oilers get most of their man-advantage scoring from the top unit where there isn’t a spot for him, Gagner could really help the second unit.   

Travis Dermott, EDM

Sticking with the Oilers, they lost more defencemen this offseason than they brought in, meaning there is room on the roster for another. Add to that Darnell Nurse still rehabbing an injury, and there are real minutes up for grabs.   

Dermott thrived with Connor McDavid in juniors, on the same team as Connor Brown. Bringing in Brown didn’t quite pay off as planned for the Oilers, and there’s no guarantee Dermott will either.  

Matt Martin, NYI

We know exactly what to expect with Martin if he signs, and that’s lots of Hits with not much else. It just depends whether you’re league values that and your team needs it.  

There are plenty of other players signed to PTOs, and some like Steven Lorentz or Pierre-Edouard Bellemare may even get contracts, but I don't see a path to fantasy relevance for any of them.  

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Now for some notes on rookie showcase standouts:

Jackson Blake, Gleb Trikozov – Carolina has so much prospect depth. A few of them are going to make an impact this year, but being on the right one is the issue. Odds are it’s Nadeau, but Blake, Unger Sorum, and and Trikozov are all knocking on the door.  

Hunter Brzustewicz – Still a few years away, and likely behind at least Zaybe Parekh now, if not others, on the future PP depth chart. I would sell high on his stock.  

Fraser Minten, Easton Cowan, Jacob Quillan – None are likely to make a big impact this year, but Cowan should at least get his nine games, and all three should be in the lineup full time in another year or two.  

Gavin Brindley, Denton Mateychuk – Two of my favourite prospects, though Mateychuk may be back in juniors because of the numbers game. Brindley now has a real shot to make the roster, though GM Don Waddell did mention possibly signing another player, even after having James van Reimsdyk join the team.  

Jiri Kulich, Konsta Helenius, etc – There are so many players to like coming up the Buffalo pipeline, but from the sounds of it Kulich and Helenius have been the cream of the crop, and each has a real shot of sticking with the Sabres like Zach Benson did last year. This was probably also leverage against Peyton Krebs, as every day he went without a contract, the players coming up from the farm were inching past him on the depth chart. Signing for multiple years at under $1.5M is a great deal for the team.

Matvei Michkov – If he gets enough ice time, he’s going to approach a point per game. If he doesn’t, all of his highlights are going to make us question why he’s being used so little.  

Connor Geekie – The best prospect in the Lightning system now, thanks to the Mikhail Sergachev trade, and Geekie is flashing some of the size/skill upside. He may not make the Lightning this year, but he's not far away from a top-nine role with the team.  

Lane Hutson – Dominant on all sides of the puck, and despite the frame, he should be able to manage himself against all the full-time NHLers can throw at him too. The only thing blocking him from a full-time roster spot is a numbers game in Montreal, and waivers exemption.  

Frank Nazar – He's doing everything he can to be Chicago's second-line centre, and while that doesn't mean as much as it might with other NHL teams, it does still show his upside and possibility for an immediate scoring impact, say alongside Teuvo Teravainen and Taylor Hall.  

Sergei Murashov – If you're looking for your next dark-horse dynasty goalie prospect, Murashov may be just the guy. Under-heralded, under-sized, but coming in at the right time to a team with a murky succession plan in net. He has been the talk of the Penguins rookie camp, so his name might not be in the shadows much longer.  

A few other names to keep an eye on that I don't have as much time as I would like to be able to touch on:  

Riley Heidt, Hiroki Gojsic, Tristan Luneau, Jonathan Lekkerimaki, Niklas Kokko, Steven Halliday, Brad Lambert, Cal Ritchie & Harrison Brunicke.

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See you next Wednesday, and if you want to keep up with it you can find me on Twitter/X here, or BlueSky here if you have any fantasy hockey questions or comments.