Handing Out Camp Invites (Sep 10)

The Arizona Coyotes were busy on Tuesday, inviting three unrestricted free agents to their training camp, which gets started in a couple of weeks. The most intriguing and most notable, defenseman Jamie McBain, who spent last season with the Buffalo Sabres, scoring 6 goals and 17 points in 69 games for the underachieving club. The year before that, he was in Carolina, playing for another poor team, scoring 1 goal and 8 points in 40 games for the Hurricanes. With the Coyotes still being somewhat short-staffed on the blueline, I think McBain has a real shot at making the push up into a contract.

Less notably, the Coyotes invited tough guy forward Matt Kassian and defender Matt Smaby to camp as well, both players being lower in the depth chart kind of players, neither really pool worthy.

36-year old Czech defenseman Tomas Kaberle is going to try and reboot his career and the New Jersey Devils are going to help facilitate that comeback with an invite to their training camp.  If Kaberle is looking for a place to play, the Devils are certainly a good option for him, as they only have five defenders on their projected roster and there is still some question marks about how Adam Larsson is going to fit into the system in 2015, so there may just be more than enough room to move in.  Kaberle last played in the shortened 2013 season, playing in only 10 games for the Montreal Canadiens, picking up 3 assists.  If Kaberle is healthy enough to play, there is a decent chance that he'll be good enough to be pool worthy, so keep him on your radar for a late-round pick.

The Devils will also have one of their own unrestricted free agents coming to camp in forward Ryan Carter, a fringe player, at best.

Over the past few seasons, the Tampa Bay Lightning have loaded up on goaltending, to which almost any combination of the four they have signed on to major league contracts to make for a reasonably successful NHL tandem, anywhere in the league.  They have decided to make things a little more interesting, adding former Calgary Flames prospect Leland Irving to the mix, inviting him to camp.  Irving also last played in the shortened season, winning a couple of games and adding an assist for 5 points, but the depth of the Lightning may only fetch him a minor-league deal, at best right now.