Last season, Boston Bruins GM Don Sweeney had a lot of success with a professional tryout (PTO) agreement. He signed former Bruin Danton Heinen to a PTO and after waiting the first couple of weeks to get into the lineup, he became a key piece to the Black and Gold in 2023-24.
Heinen scored 17 goals and had 19 assists in 74 regular season games and often found himself taking key shifts as a middle-six forward. Not many people saw that production coming from him, but he ended up being a key piece in the lineup for head coach Jim Montgomery. Now with training camp beginning later this month, the Bruins made an interesting PTO signing and again, it could turn out to be a productive one.
Bruins sign veteran forward Tyler Johnson to a PTO
Saturday, the Bruins announced that they signed former Tampa Bay Lightning and Chicago Blackhawks forward Tyler Johnson to a PTO for the upcoming season. It was a little surprising that Johnson was still a free agent and he is one of the top ones that was remaining on the market.
The #NHLBruins have signed forward Tyler Johnson to a Professional Tryout Agreement (PTO).
— Boston Bruins (@NHLBruins) August 31, 2024
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Last season for Chicago, he had 17 goals and 14 assists in 67 games, and in his career between the Lightning and Blackhawks, he has 193 goals and 238 assists in 738 games. He was on the Stanley Cup in 2020 and 2021 with Tampa Bay and has 32 goals and 33 assists in the postseason.
Johnson will have a good opportunity to make the Boston roster out of camp as he could be someone who could make the roster should Fabian Lysell or Georgii Merkulov not make the cut filling Jake DeBrusk's void on the second line. Johnson is a talented player who still has something left in the tank and could fill the role vacated by James van Riemsdyk last season.