4 Early PTO Targets the Maple Leafs Should Consider – The Hockey Writers – Toronto Maple Leafs

Toronto has already had a busy offseason, adding names like Sergei Bobrovsky, Darren Raddysh, Jack Roslovic, Nick Paul, Colton Sissons, Teddy Blueger, Emil Andrae and Gavin McKenna. Even with all that turnover, the forward group could still use another body or two — and a professional tryout (PTO) is a low-risk way to find out who’s still got something left in the tank.

While it’s way too early to know if these players will be available and accepting of a PTO, here are four names worth watching as training camp approaches.

Reilly Smith

Reilly Smith‘s 2025-26 season with Vegas was a step down statistically — 16 goals and 26 points in 69 games — but that follows three straight seasons of 40-plus points. His resume includes a Stanley Cup with the Golden Knights in 2023, and while he’s likely unsigned because of his age and declining production, at 35, he might still have something to offer.

Smith is not going to be a top-line difference-maker. Still, he’s played nearly 1,000 games and would be great depth insurance for a contending team. He’d make sense as a bottom-six winger, and he was making only $2 million last season. If a team isn’t signing him with the understanding he’ll be less expensive, a PTO might be a legitimate option.

Patrik Laine

Patrik Laine is the highest-upside name on this list, and also the riskiest. A frustrating, injury-shortened stint in Montreal limited him to just five games last season, which has tanked his market value to the point where a cheap, incentive-laden “prove-it” deal is realistic. The latest is that the New York Islanders might be interested on a PTO basis. Maybe the Maple Leafs can offer the same.

The reward if it works is obvious: a sniper who’s scored at an elite rate before. Slotting him alongside Auston Matthews and William Nylander, or into a sheltered role with power-play minutes near young scorers like Gavin McKenna and Easton Cowan, would let him focus purely on shooting the puck. If he can stay relatively healthy and score 15-20, even mostly on the man-advantage, it could be worth seeing what he looks like in camp.

Evgenii Dadonov

Evgenii Dadonov’s 2025-26 was rough — just one goal in 24 games with New Jersey. That’s not going to get him much love as an unrestricted free agent. However, he is only one season removed from posting 20 goals and 40 points.

This is a player who has cleared 20 goals five times, so it’s possible that last season was the one-off. A PTO carries almost no risk here: if he shows well in camp, he becomes a veteran option for the bottom six; if not, Toronto’s out nothing. At 37, he’s unlikely to get a good offer. Maybe he waits to see if a team he’d prefer playing for invites him to a camp.

Michael Bunting

Of everyone on this list, Michael Bunting has the most obvious history with the Maple Leafs. His two seasons in Toronto were the best of his career — 23 goals and 63 points in 2021-22, followed by another 23-goal, 49-point year in 2022-23 — much of it playing alongside Auston Matthews. That’s 112 points in two seasons.

Since leaving, he’s bounced between Carolina, Pittsburgh, Nashville and Dallas and not been the same. he had 13 goals last season in Nashville. A reunion on a cheap, one-year deal makes sense for both sides: Bunting gets a shot at reviving his career in a role he’s already thrived in, and Toronto gets a physical, energy-line winger who could also slide back up next to Matthews if the chemistry returns.

Would any of these players make sense on a PTO? Or will they all wind up getting deals without having to go through the process of a tryout?