Reports surfaced Thursday night that the Toronto Maple Leafs are expected to sign Nick Blankenburg, rewarding a training camp tryout that clearly got noticed.
Multiple reports, including one from Jonas Siegel, have the Leafs finalizing a deal with the defenseman. Terms haven't been reported yet.
He showed up on a professional tryout offer. Think of a PTO as a job interview conducted in full gear, with nothing promised once the exhibition schedule dries up.
He passed.
Wednesday night in Ottawa, Blankenburg picked up a power-play assist as the Leafs won 4-2. He didn't register a shot on goal.
His ice time landed at 14:01 and he left the building without a mark on the plus-minus sheet. Quiet, clean shifts are exactly how a tryout guy talks his way into a contract.
The Leafs scored twice on the man advantage in that game, and he was in on one of them. For a depth piece fighting for a spot, that line on the scoresheet travels.
Jim Hiller gets another cheap blue line option before Montreal
Toronto split the roster Wednesday and swept both halves of the doubleheader against Ottawa. The home group rolled to a 6-1 win.
That pushed the winning streak to two games. The Senators, meanwhile, have now dropped three straight.
Jim Hiller took over behind the bench in June, so this is his first camp running the room. Every depth call now says something about how he wants his back end built.
And the cap sheet explains why a move like this matters. Auston Matthews carries a $13,250,000 cap hit on his own.
Stack William Nylander's $11,500,000 on top of that, and two forwards swallow a massive chunk of space before a single depth defenseman gets paid.
So when a top-heavy roster finds a useful body on the blue line for cheap, the front office should grab it with both hands.
This is a smart signing, plain and simple. The Leafs didn't burn a trade asset to find depth. They found a motivated player already sitting in their own camp.
Is he a top-four answer? No. Nobody in that locker room should pretend otherwise.
Morgan Rielly, Chris Tanev and Jake McCabe all dressed for the home half of Wednesday's doubleheader. The pecking order on the Toronto blue line isn't a mystery.
But depth defensemen get tested in October. Injuries pile up, a back-to-back hits, and suddenly the seventh guy is playing 15 minutes against a top six.
Montreal comes to town Tuesday to open the regular season. Does Blankenburg dress for that one, or does he watch it from the press box, waiting for his first real chance?
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Should Nick Blankenburg crack the Maple Leafs' opening night lineup against Montreal?
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