Four players land PTO's ahead of training camps for 2023-24 season

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Cooper Godin
August 29, 2023 (9:14)

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Training camps around the National Hockey League are set to begin in just under three weeks and teams are beginning to round out their rosters by signing players to professional try-out contracts.

Monday was the busiest day on the PTO market, with a total of six players putting pen to paper on deals that will see them joining their respective clubs for training camp and pre-season games.

As was known for well over a week now, but only made official today, the Oilers signed Brandon Sutter and Sam Gagner to PTO's, but four more came in as well.

The Carolina Hurricanes announced that they've signed former AHL MVP Cory Conacher and 2014 first-round pick Brendan Perlini to PTO's.

Conacher spent the 2022-23 season in the AHL with Belleville and Charlotte, putting up ten points in 17 regular season games and following that up with three points in seven playoff games with the Checkers.

As for Perlini, he also spent last year in the American Hockey League, appearing in 26 games with the Chicago Wolves where recorded 15 points (ten goals, five assists), 12 penalty minutes and was a minus-ten.

The next team that made a PTO announcement on Monday was the Colorado Avalanche. The Avalanche have inked former Dallas Stars forward Joel Kiviranta to a try-out contract. Kiviranta had nine points in 70 regular season games last year with the Stars.

In 2020, Kiviranta played a huge role in eliminating the Colorado Avalanche from the Stanley Cup Playoffs. In Game 7 of the second round, Kiviranta had a hat-trick, including the overtime game-winning-goal to send the Stars to the Western Conference Final.

The final player to sign a professional try-out contract on Monday was Cameron Hillis, a former Montreal Canadiens prospect, who will be joining the Detroit Red Wings.

Hillis, a native of Oshawa, Ontario, started the year in the ECHL with the Trois-Rivieres Lions before the Montreal Canadiens traded him to the Chicago Blackhawks. The 23-year-old would then join the Blackhawks' ECHL affiliate, Indy Fuel, but also skated in 17 games for the AHL's Rockford Ice Hogs.

In 48 ECHL games, Hillis tallied 52 points (16 goals, 36 assists), 34 penalty minutes and was a plus-18.