One Team Would Only Be Willing To Take Patrik Laine on a PTO

There's a seven-time 20-goal scorer on the free agent market, but the actual 'market' for him still appears to be kind of tepid. Very tepid, in fact. Patrik Laine is still out there, and while one or two teams have come up in rumors, there's no rush to get him signed. 

One club, the New York Islanders, would only have interest in even taking a look at Laine if it doesn't cost them anything, per Stefan Rosner of The Elmonters. 

From what I’ve been told, the Islanders did have conversations with Patrik Laine’s camp when free agency opened. I don’t believe the Islanders were willing, or are willing, to offer Laine anything more than a Professional Tryout (PTO).

The Isles were linked early this offseason as a team that might be looking at Laine, but this new revelation tampers down that talk. 

It's been thought all along that the 28-year-old Finnish forward would have to settle for a minimum-salaried type of deal, but now even that sounds optimistic. Players on a PTO remain unsigned free agents attending training camp or preseason games without a guaranteed contract. They earn $0 in salary, but do receive a standard per diem for meals and expenses. 

But Rosner goes on to add that, from the Islanders' perspective, even though Laine could help their power play, they now have "a logjam at forward," so the chances of them even being interested in bringing in Laine on a PTO are slimmer than at the beginning of the offseason. 

The Isles brought in Matias Maccelli on a free agent deal, while Victor Eklund and Cole Eiserman will be knocking on the door for top-nine spots this fall as well.

As for Laine, he played only five games last year for the Montreal Canadiens, and has missed 224 games over the last five seasons (55% of his teams' games). Clubs around the league will be reluctant to commit cap dollars to him unless he proves he can be productive.