3 players the Colorado Avalanche should invite to training camp on PTO

With training camp around the corner, teams are homing in on their camp rosters and the battles therein among players. Each team has mostly filled out their opening night roster, let’s be honest, but there are less than a handful of spots available on each team. With the cap crunch situation the Colorado Avalanche are in, it’d behoove them to consider some professional tryout offers (PTO) to players they believe have an opportunity to add a skill or skills to their lineup. These offers come with minimal risk and potentially great reward.

There are plenty of players who would fit this mold from aging veterans hanging on in the league to younger players still trying to make a name for themselves. There are roles to be earned on the opening night roster, and if one of these players can impress Avalanche brass, the opportunity is there for the taking.

Without further ado, the Avalanche should offer these three players a professional tryout and an invite to training camp.

3.) Matt Martin

The Islanders are in a cap crunch like the Avalanche are. They don’t have enough money to go around, and the likeliness they sign their bottom six players are hit or miss. A potential Islander loss is an Avalanche gain.

For those that aren’t familiar with him, Matt Martin is a meat and potatoes, blue collar player. A mainstay on the Islander fourth line for what seems like an eternity, he’d be an asset to any team who was able to acquire his services.

He hits anything that moves, he protects his teammates, and he can score the occasional goal too. He’s not what he once was as he’s gotten up in age (35), but he can still be a very serviceable fourth-line player. Martin also kills penalties (when he’s not in the box himself).

For a minimal risk like a professional tryout offer, Martin’s a guy the Avalanche brass should be looking at.

2.) Tony DeAngelo

Admittedly, DeAngelo is his own worst enemy, which may just help the Colorado Avalanche. The New Jersey native was a first-round pick of the Tampa Bay Lightning, a team that knows talent, in 2014. He never played for Tampa and has bounced around across eight years in the NHL, playing with four different teams.

His most notable stint was with the New York Rangers, where he played parts of four seasons with the team. He had his best statistical season in 2019-20 while on Broadway, scoring 53 points in only 68 games, as well as scoring 15 goals and quarterbacking the power play.

Colorado doesn’t need DeAngelo to quarterback the Power Play. They’ve already got somebody for that. In fact, they don’t even need him to play major minutes.

If DeAngelo can keep his head on straight (as the saying goes) and his emotions in check, he can really help the Avalanche. That is if he’s buried the hatchet with goalie Alexandar Georgiev, whom he had a scuffle with that ultimately earned him his walking papers from New York.

What team wouldn’t need a puck moving, offensive minded defenseman with the ability to get under the oppositions’ skin (his own team too)? To add to those qualities, DeAngelo is only 29 years old.

For his sake, he needs to realize he may be on his last nerve with the NHL. His attitude and tendency to not play well with others has gotten him to that point. He’s a polarizing figure and most people either love him or hate him, likely just the way he likes it. DeAngelo would likely jump at the chance to play with a loaded roster in Colorado, and it’s a low risk move for the Avs.