Penguins bring in Dan Carcillo on Professional Tryout

The Pittsburgh Penguins were looking for more grit and character this off-season, and they are going to bring in former Pens draft pick Dan Carcillo on a professional tryout (PTO).

The Pittsburgh Penguins have signed forward Daniel Carcillo to a professional tryout contract, it was announced today by executive vice president and general manager Jim Rutherford.

Carcillo, 29, originally broke into the professional ranks with the Penguins organization after being drafted by Pittsburgh in the third round (73rd overall) of the 2003 NHL Draft. He played two seasons with the Penguins’ American Hockey League affiliate, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, from 2005-07, tallying 54 points (32G-22A) and 494 penalty minutes in 103 regular-season games.

The 6-foot, 200-pound Carcillo has played nine NHL seasons, beginning with the Arizona Coyotes in in 2006-07. Since then, he has gone on to suit up for the Philadelphia Flyers, Chicago Blackhawks, Los Angeles Kings and New York Rangers.

Carcillo split the 2013-14 campaign between the Kings and Rangers, scoring four goals and five points with 100 penalty minutes in 57 combined regular-season contests, then adding two goals in eight playoff games, helping the Rangers advance to the Stanley Cup Final, where they fell to the Kings in five games.

We'll see if this plays out- the Penguins already have 12 forwards on one-way contracts, and that does not include young players like Jayson Megna, Adam Payerl and Zach Sill who made their NHL debuts last season and will have chances to win jobs out of camp as well. The odds are seemingly against Carcillo to make the team- especially with Steve Downie around to already fill the role of "Unstable former Flyer" on the roster.

Further, there is some history with players making the most of PTOs in Pittsburgh- last year Chuck Kobasew parlayed a PTO into a contract. In 2013 Mark Eaton was signed to a PTO and eventually brought on full-time too.

With rumors that players like Ryan Malone (who may be going to the New York Rangers on a PTO) and several other unsigned veterans out there, it's interesting the Pens have chosen Carcillo- who is a 4th line energy player at best, and a maniac who's going to take costly penalties at worst.

Carcillo has played for 3 teams in the 1.5 seasons since the lockout, and there's a reason a guy like that wears out his welcome so quickly. The Penguins really should have already known this, being as they had the guy in their organization, but he left in 2007 before all of the current front office (including assistant GM Jason Botterill) were a part of the team.

Still, Carcillo will add a little flavor and competition to the roster battles later this month. So I guess has to be considered a good thing, if we're searching for positives.