The Toronto Maple Leafs have signed forward Devin Setoguchi to a professional tryout contract (PTO) that will have him attending camp to vie for a roster spot with the team. (Read: He’ll vie for a one-year deal and a trade at the deadline.)
It had been rumored that Toronto and Setoguchi were in talks, but Maple Leafs Radio’s Matt Brown reports that the PTO is happening now.
Setoguchi’s star was on the rise while he was in San Jose, starting back in 2007-08 season, breaking 30 goals once and 20 goals two other times. Since then he’s been on the decline after a couple middling years in Minnesota, a poor year in Winnipeg and managing to just get himself into 12 games for the Calgary Flames last year, over which he didn’t manage post a single point.
While the last couple of years haven’t been great for Setoguchi — particularly after Calgary placed him on waivers and he went unclaimed — he could be an interesting reclaimtion project for Toronto. Setoguchi says, after some personal issues, that he’s been “clean and sober” for five months and is ready to get his career back on track. If that’s the case, he could be a steal for Toronto and provide them with some nice trade bait at the deadline, if they go that route with their ongoing rebuild, and you have to imagine they’re sellers at the deadline with plenty to sell.
Maybe now that he’s got a PTO on the table and a chance to compete for a roster spot, he’ll have some friends repeat the below dance from his wedding this summer in celebration.
Lots of familiar names are taking PTOs this season. Keep up with all the tryout contracts with The Hockey Writers’ 2015 PTO Tracker.
