NEWARK, N.J. — Inviting players to NHL training camps with only the promise of a tryout contract isn’t a new concept. PTOs, as those deals are called, are handed out by consistently dominant teams and teams struggling to attain mediocrity alike; the Boston Bruins invited Simon Gagne to their camp on a PTO while the Calgary Flames are looking at Raphael Diaz and Sheldon Brookbank on tryouts.
The New Jersey Devils aren’t immune to training camp PTOs, either, but they have assembled a PTO group that could be the core of a Stanley Cup run.
That run, of course, would have to take place in 2005 or 2006.
Scott Gomez, Ruslan Fedotenko, Tomas Kaberle and Mike Komisarek are all attempting to earn a spot on the Devils roster; their combined numbers during the 2005-06 season: 70 goals, 128 assists. Gomez, Fedotenko and Kaberle had their best seasons statistically in ’05-06 while Komisarek’s 19 points in 2006-07 were a career high.
They took different paths to New Jersey and are all at somewhat different stages of their careers. But they all still have one thing in common: “The hunger is still there,” Kaberle said.
For aging veterans scavenging for an NHL job, the roster they are trying to make is almost as important as the level of skill they still possess. That aspect is what makes the decision of these four players to take a shot with the Devils such an interesting one.
The Devils have 13 forwards on one-way contracts after signing Michael Cammalleri and Martin Havlat during the offseason, which means there seems to be scant room to add an over-30 forward to a team that’s filled with them. There’s room for a winger on the fourth line, but that job is better suited for either Ryan Carter or Jordin Tootoo, two players who are also in camp on PTOs.
Gomez will be 35 years old in December. He has won two Stanley Cups, both with the Devils, and according to CapGeek.com, has earned a little more than $60 million during a career that began in 1999. Why in the world would he agree to spend two weeks living out of a suitcase in a hotel for the chance to earn around the league minimum on a team that has missed the playoffs two seasons running?
“That’s the good part. It’s like, hey, I was smart with everything,” Gomez said of being financially secure. “The hunger is still there. That’s never left. After missing (the playoffs) last year, there’s just nothing that can fill that in. You talk to guys that are done, that’s something that’s taken from you. I’ll have to face that one day, but I’ve got a lot of hockey left.
“If anything, I’m pretty fresh. The situation last year, I don’t know what the hell that was. I’m ready to go. You’re grateful for the opportunity at the same time. You have to make them keep you.”
Gomez was a healthy scratch for most of last season with the Florida Panthers, posting two goals and 12 points in 46 games. The Devils boast a pretty good group of centers and/or forwards who can play center, including Patrik Elias, Travis Zajac, Adam Henrique and Dainius Zubrus, all of whom outproduced Gomez last season.
That mattered little to Gomez, who was drawn back to an organization that has a reputation that precedes itself among NHL players: “One thing about being here, is that they do find character guys. There’s never really been assh---s here. A lot of great people have come through here.”
Just like Gomez, Komisarek had other offers to attend camps on a PTO, but the Devils were his choice because he felt the team gave him the best chance of winning a job and getting back to the playoffs for the first time since 2009.
“Absolutely,” he said. “You can quote me.”
Komisarek is in an entirely different boat than Gomez. Only 32 years old, Komisarek has never lifted the Stanley Cup, although he’s hardly destitute with about $28 million in career earnings. While Gomez has gone through a natural decline later in his career, Komisarek has been ravaged by injuries and hasn’t been the same since a shoulder issue in 2010.
The one thing on Komisarek’s side is the Devils have a bit more room on the blue line. Andy Greene, Marek Zidlicky and Bryce Salvador are guaranteed roster spots, but coach Peter DeBoer’s penchant for veterans over younger players leaves the roster spots of Eric Gelinas and Adam Larsson in limbo.
Jon Merrill, the one defenseman under the age of 30 who DeBoer seems to trust, suffered a possible concussion on the first day of training camp in an accidental collision with Fedotenko.
According to NHLNumbers.com, the Devils have by far the oldest roster in the NHL with an average age of 31.598. That's two years older than the second-oldest team, the New York Rangers at 29.461. Gelinas and Larsson found themselves either scratched or relegated to the AHL for long stretches last season, making the Devils an attractive option to an over-30 defenseman like Komisarek.
“I think when you look back on your career, you look back to how many times you’ve had the opportunity to play in the playoffs,” Komisarek said. “That’s the main motivation, to be somewhere where you can get back to that and compete for the Stanley Cup and ultimately we’re here to win and I’m here to show I can be a piece of that team.
“We’re in the business of winning, and I’m not getting any younger and you want to finish off and get back in the playoffs.”
That universal motivation applies to Kaberle, a Stanley Cup champion with the Boston Bruins in 2011 who played overseas in his native Czech Republic last season after he was bought out by the Montreal Canadiens.
If the 36-year-old has anything left in the tank, he could be the answer to the Devils’ left-handed point man on the second power-play unit this season. That’s especially true if Merrill’s injury lingers into the season and Gelinas doesn’t win over DeBoer during training camp.
“Playing in Europe last year and at the Olympics, I thought I still had a couple of years left,” Kaberle said.
If not for a war showing up on his doorstep, Ruslan Fedotenko wouldn’t be anywhere close to Newark, New Jersey, in mid-September, fighting for an NHL job.
The Ukrainian-born left wing with a Stanley Cup to his credit said farewell to the NHL following the 2013 season with the Philadelphia Flyers and signed a three-year deal with Donbass HC, a KHL club based in Donetsk, Ukraine. “After nine one-year deals, I finally got a three-year deal,” Fedotenko joked about situation.
Whether you want to classify it as war, a Russian invasion or a military intervention, bombs, bullets and missiles began flying in Ukraine in February 2014. The fighting spilled into Donetsk in April and continues today. It caused Donbass HC to cease operation as the team’s home rink was destroyed by fire during the conflict, leaving the players without a team in a city filled with refugees.
Fedotenko is one of the lucky ones; as far as he knows, none of his friends or family have lost their lives during this conflict, but “they are hiding in basements while missiles fly over their heads.” He was able to bring his immediate family back to the United States, although ideally he would have preferred to stay in the KHL.
That wasn’t possible. As a Ukrainian, Fedotenko is considered an import player, and teams are allowed only seven on their roster. With KHL rosters set by the time Donbass HC was forced to shut down, Fedotenko was left with no choice but to return to the NHL to continue his hockey career.
“When they released us, it was the beginning of July,” Fedotenko said. “Every team was already set up. Plus, I was an import player. Multiple things happened. Russia against Ukraine over there, and they don’t want to bring a Ukrainian player in there. It’s politics, also.”
Gomez, Komisarek, Kaberle and Fedotenko have come together in Brick City for different reasons, but the bottom line for all of them is they believe they can still play and they want to do it in New Jersey.
The hard truth is one, two, three or possibly all four won’t make the team and are only at camp to push younger players and make others feel a little less secure about their perceived guaranteed roster spots (looking at you, Damien Brunner and Michael Ryder).
“Any time you bring in the people we’ve brought in here, who are without contracts and looking for a job,” DeBoer said, “if you’re sitting in that room, it’s an automatic, ‘Hey, I’m on notice, I better be ready to go here and show I belong.’”
That’s not how the guys on PTOs want to see it. They want to feel like they’re only there to scare the others; they want a job, one that could possibly be their last in the NHL.
“Some teams are going to do it different,” Gomez said, “but here they’re going to get the best team to try to win. That’s always been the mentality. The only thought you can have is you have to make them keep you. It’s a business.”
All statistics via NHL.com, all contract information via CapGeek.com.
Dave Lozo covers the NHL for Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter: @DaveLozo.
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