The Washington Capitals have signed center Derek Roy to a professional tryout contract (PTO) to come to training camp and earn a contract, according to Mike Vogel.
Roy started last season with the Nashville Predators and was traded to the Edmonton Oilers in December for Mark Arcobello.
The 11-year veteran has played 738 NHL games split between the Predators, Oilers, St. Louis Blues, Vancouver Canucks, Dallas Stars and Buffalo Sabres, where he spent eight seasons.
Last year, between the two teams, he played 72 games, scoring 12 goals and 20 assists. Though, with a 10.9 ZSO%Rel he managed an ugly -0.6% CF%Rel.
Roy may make sense for the Capitals if they decide that the team’s prospects aren’t ready to hit full time roles, even though Roy probably makes the most sense as the team’s 4C and they aren’t likely to bring up a prospect to play that limited role.
Over his career, his usage has bounced between extremes with big offensive zone usage like last season and more heavily defensive zone starts, like the -7.6% ZSO%Rel he had in 2012-13 season between the Canucks and Stars.
Lots of familiar names are taking PTOs this season. Keep up with all the tryout contracts with The Hockey Writers’ 2015 PTO Tracker.
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