We are officially in "professional tryout" season, as teams try to find a little bit of injury insurance and get around pre-season veteran requirements.

As of this writing, six players have been signed to PTOs: Colorado has called in Artyom Anisimov and Jack Johnson, Pittsburgh temporarily signed Brian Boyle and Matt Bartkowski, Calgary wrangled Alex Gallant, and Toronto has Josh Ho-Sang. The odds that any one of these players actually earns a contract with these teams don't seem particularly high — except in the case of Boyle and Bartkowski, who seem like they could get small-money deals because of the Penguins' injury and depth situation.

But there are a few unrestricted free agents out there who played in the NHL last season and will at least be worth a tire-kick or two. It's frankly surp