Avs Give Rene Bourque a PTO: Report

The Colorado Avalanche have signed forward Rene Bourque to a professional tryout (PTO), according to James Mirtle of the Globe & Mail.

The former University of Wisconsin Badger most recently spent time with the Columbus Blue Jackets, putting up three goals and eight points in 49 games last season.

The 34-year-old journeyman is a veteran of 660 NHL games, and is a three-time 20-goal scorer, putting up 27 goals in the 2009-10 (58 points) and 2010-11 (50 points) seasons for the Calgary Flames.

RELATED: The Hockey Writers’ 2016 PTO Tracker

Those 660 games come spread across time spent with the Chicago Blackhawks, Flames, Montreal Canadiens, Anaheim Ducks and Blue Jackets.

Bourque’s PTO comes the same day that the Avs named Jared Bednar the team’s new head coach, replacing Patrick Roy. Bednar comes to the team from the Lake Erie Monsters, AHL affiliate of the Blue Jackets. However, it’s not clear that there’s a connection between Bednar’s arrival and Bourque’s PTO. Bourque did not play any games with the Monsters during his tenure in Columbus.