Free-agent forward Jarret Stoll will be attending training camp with the Columbus Blue Jackets on a professional tryout (PTO), the team announced on Tuesday.
Jarret Stoll (@jarretstoll) will attend #CBJ training camp on a professional tryout. pic.twitter.com/f5xP5vYaV4
— ColumbusBlueJackets (@BlueJacketsNHL) August 30, 2016
The 34-year-old center started the 2015-16 season with the New York Rangers before being claimed on waivers by the Minnesota Wild. In 80 regular season games, Stoll scored four goals and nine points.
Stoll arrived in New York after seven seasons with the Los Angeles Kings, where he was a depth player for the club and won the Stanley Cup in 2012 and 2014. Stoll’s best season offensively came in 2005-06 while with the Edmonton Oilers, when he registered 22 goals and 46 assists in 82 games.
Despite Stoll’s decline in offensive production in recent years, one of his strengths has been his faceoff abilities. In his 13-year NHL career, Stoll has won 55.3 percent of the faceoffs he has taken, and if he makes the Blue Jackets out of camp, will help a team that won just 49 percent of its draws in 2015-16.
Stoll’s PTO gives the Blue Jackets an opportunity to evaluate the veteran at training camp with little to lose. For Stoll, it is a chance to show the team he can still be an effective player at the NHL level.
