The NHL season is approaching, and the flow of news is starting to pick up. Training camps have begun, and we have injury updates, signings, line combos, and PTOs. Professional tryouts are not usually the way to make a name for yourself as a fantasy player and for the most part fantasy leagues won't be won or lost by someone currently on a PTO. This makes sense. Most of the players that teams thought would be a good addition were signed to an actual contract over the summer. A PTO option is for the leftovers. That doesn't mean though there aren't occasional decent seasons following a PTO. We have seen 40-point seasons from defensemen, 50-point-plus pace seasons from forwards, a 20-goal season or two, but it isn't that common.

For today we are shifting gears a little, away from the strictest data use and going to try to envision a best-case scenario for some of these familiar names on PTOs. The worst-case scenario is pretty evident: they don't get a contract. I am going to be looking at these players' recent history as well as the situation they are walking into and see what is the most we might be able to expect from them in 2026-27. Basically, with drafts happening I would like to give some context for anyone seeing these names on their draft board to help make the choice as to whether any of these players might be worth the risk. In the vast majority of cases these players aren't going to be very interesting in typical redraft formats, but for deep leagues or dynasty formats it is certainly good to know where these players are.

I would like to briefly set the stage, and expectations if you will. In our PTO review in September of 2025, we touched on seven of the most interesting names. Six of them were skaters. Of those six, only two ended up playing NHL games, and neither were particularly relevant with sub-30-point paces. Two of the other four played in Europe, while the remaining two played in the AHL. So, while technically a 50-point, 20-goal season is possible, in most cases these players might be worth an occasional stream.

The 2026-27 season has mainly one interesting storyline in net, with a couple of potential depth defense options. The following is a list of some familiar names that are about to enter their PTO (as of 9/15).

Our first entry is just going to be 'goalies'. We have two right now with Cal Peterson (Washington Capitals) and Chris Driedger (Vancouver Canucks). Both have shown flashes of relevance in the past, and have now been relegated to obscurity for multiple seasons. Driedger is the more interesting of the two. The Capitals already have a bona fide NHL starter and backup, plus some organizational depth so it isn't really clear what role Petersen might be able to carve out for himself. Vancouver, though, is dealing with a currently-and-often injured Thatcher Demko and though Kevin Lankinen is also there under contract, he was pretty terrible for large chunks of the 2025-26 season. Nikita Tolopilo is also there, but he did not show well at all in his few NHL starts and wasn't particularly successful in the AHL either. At the very least this looks like some camp competition for Tolopilo as the backup/1B for whenever Demko is out and given Lankinen's shaky track record there is certainly potential for a bigger opportunity.

Alex Nylander (Calgary Flames) has bounced around for parts of seven NHL seasons. He has never really been able to find a secure footing. Astute observers might remember October of the 19-20 season where he put up five points in his first five games, and eight points over his first 12 games with the Chicago Blackhawks. As far as fantasy relevance though, that is about it. He has spent most of the last two seasons in the AHL so the likelihood of breakthrough NHL season for the 28-year-old is very low. If there is a team in the NHL right now where someone could break into the NHL though it is Calgary. The situation is worth monitoring for that reason alone, but the chances of success are still very small.

Tyson Jost (Nashville Predators) has been consistently playing in the NHL since the 17-18 season, and he initially had quite a bit of hype after being drafted 10th overall. Unfortunately, he has yet to break a 30-point pace over nine seasons and five teams. It doesn't feel like a great sign that the team for whom he played 69 games last season has now invited him to camp on a PTO. In 25-26 he saw about 12 minutes of ice time and about a 20-point pace with Nashville. That seems like the best-case scenario for him if he makes the team.

Carson Soucy (Columbus Blue Jackets) has never been a big point producer, but that isn't why a team might roster him. He has historically been a depth option in multi-cat leagues when his schedule might help provide a few extra blocks, shots, and hits. He typically provides between 1-1.5 of each per game, and a 15-to-18-minute defenseman over the past seven seasons. He seems to be some camp competition for Jake Christiansen or maybe potential injury insurance for Erik Gudbranson who has missed significant time the past two seasons. Best case here seems to be just what he has always been – a peripheral stream if the schedule happens to work in his favor.

Nick Blankenburg (Toronto Maple Leafs) had a brief moment of almost relevance in 24-25 where he put up eight points in 20 games (a 33-point pace) to go along with a reasonable number of peripherals. That run coincided with him getting some significant power-play time as Nashville was dealing with multiple injury issues on the blue line. He has played at least 60 games in the past two seasons and did have a 32-point pace in 25-26 split between Colorado and Nashville but is clearly on the outside looking in now in Toronto. Toronto seems to have a pretty locked in top six D at the moment with Blankenburg probably as some competition for Emil Andrae in a potential 7th D/injury replacement slot. An injury seems the most reasonable path to playing time for Blankenburg, which likely means low point totals and minor peripheral contributions at best.

That is all for this week.

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