We’re just over a month away from the return of NHL hockey. That also means that the Vancouver Canucks are returning to town.
With training camp set to begin in Penticton next week, the Canucks look like they are only bringing in Sammy Blais on a professional tryout contract (PTO). His chances of cracking the roster are decent, which is better than most PTO players around the league. That does raise an interesting question, though – who were the three most recent Canucks to translate a PTO into a contract?
Alex Chiasson – 2021
Probably one of the better stories for Vancouver when it comes to PTO players, Alex Chiasson remained unsigned throughout the 2021 offseason before being invited to training camp by the Canucks on a PTO. This was off the back of a three-year stint with the Edmonton Oilers after earning a contract with them through another PTO, after having previously signed a contract from a PTO with the Washington Capitals in 2017.
The third time was yet again the charm for Chiasson, who parlayed his performance into a one-year, $750,000 contract with the Canucks. On a team that was reeling from a disastrous 2020-21 season, Chiasson filled a depth role quite nicely before steadily being elevated through the lineup throughout the year.
Yup, that’s right, Chiasson ended up with stints on the first line after coming into the year on a PTO. Much like his time in Edmonton, the winger was able to fit in with higher-end players thanks to his big body and nose for the net. Vancouver utilized him on PP1 as a powerplay net-front presence, along with time in the top six, and Chiasson produced 13 goals and 22 points in 67 regular season games.
The winger went unrenewed for the next season, inking another PTO with the Arizona Coyotes prior to the 2022-23 season. This time, though, Chiasson came up emptyhanded – but, after signing an AHL deal with the Grand Rapids Griffins, he was able to parlay a strong AHL campaign into a 1-year, two-way contract with the Detroit Red Wings for the rest of the seasons in March 2023. He currently remains unsigned.
Travis Hamonic – 2021
Oh, how we would like to forget about this one. Travis Hamonic remained unsigned after the 2020 bubble playoffs by the Calgary Flames. With the Canucks looking for options to replace the departed Chris Tanev, Hamonic was invited to camp on a PTO. Out of a dearth of options, the right-handed defensive defenceman was inked to a contract that would see him spend the year with Vancouver.
That season proved to be a complete dumpster fire. While Hamonic was still a good shot blocker and (allegedly) a good penalty killer, it was clear he wasn’t the same defenceman that featured in the New York Islanders’ top four. And, now being pressed into top four minutes, Hamonic was treading water at best in that North Division.
Granted, put into the context of that team, and Hamonic’s stats aren’t the worst. He ranked within the top two or three Canuck blueliners in most 5v5 defensive on-ice categories. But Hamonic struggled on the penalty kill and even strength (like most of the team around him). With 10 points in 38 games, he would be a decent returning figure at the right price point. Sure, Vancouver would re-sign him to a reasonable deal, right?
Nope.
Jim Benning decided that being one of the better defencemen on a complete wreck of a Canucks group while being lifted by Quinn Hughes deserved a $3.0 million average annual value (AAV) deal. Ironically, Hamonic would fail to report to training camp before the 2021-22 season, resulting in the team placing him on waivers. Assigned to Abbotsford to start the year, Hamonic would appear in two contests before being recalled to Vancouver on December 3rd, 2021.
His results were not good at all in the games that he played for the Canucks, and looked to be another anchor deal for this team. Thank goodness for Pierre Dorion, who acquired Hamonic from Vancouver for a 3rd round pick in 2022. That pick was later flipped to the Toronto Maple Leafs to acquire Travis Dermott at the same deadline.
Jack Skille – 2016
Jumping back a bit further, we arrive at the Canucks’ third most recent PTO-to-contract signing. Jack Skille found himself unsigned after the summer of 2016 before being invited to Vancouver’s training camp. He impressed enough to earn himself a one-year, $700,000 contract to start the year. The former first-round pick rounded into a decent depth forward option for the Canucks.
Skille ended up finishing the season as the sixth-best player at controlling even-strength shot attempt ratio, as well as the fifth-best at impacting his teammates’ ability to control favourable shot attempts. The fourth line was pretty darn good at hemming in opposing teams’ bottom sixes – the problem was, they couldn’t score much. Skille only produced nine points in 55 contests but did a good job in the role he played on the team.
Sadly, Skille had his season cut short after suffering an injury on March 25th, 2017. That pretty much spelled the end for his NHL career, as the next year saw him move to the KHL with Dynamo Minsk. Skille’s last season of professional hockey saw him play for EC Salzburg in the ICEHL back in 2020-21 before hanging up the skates.
While he wasn’t a successful PTO for the Canucks, newly-signed forward Danton Heinen is another success story from a PTO contract. After an unsuccessful 2022-2023 season with the Pittsburgh Penguins, Heinen signed a PTO with the Boston Bruins last season.
Heinen stuck around with the Bruins long enough to get a contract on October 30th, eight games into the season. The Langley native played the remaining 74 games with the Bruins, scoring 17 goals and 19 assists for 36 points in what would be the second-best season of his career.
Without this PTO opportunity, Heinen may have never played well enough to earn his two-year $4.5 million contract he signed on July 1st with the Vancouver Canucks.
