Free-agent profile: Why does veteran center Tyler Pitlick remain unsigned?

As the 31st overall pick at the 2010 NHL draft, Tyler Pitlick had high expectations placed on him when he was a prospect. A dominating high school player, Pitlick spent his draft year playing college hockey before spending a year in the WHL, a successful campaign that saw him post 62 points in 56 games. But unfortunately, the scoring touch he showed as a major junior player didn’t translate to the professional game, and his next three seasons in the AHL were ones of middling production. Thankfully for Pitlick, though, he was able to make enough alterations to his game to be able to survive as a bottom-six player, and that allowed him to eventually see time as a regular NHLer.

Pitlick broke into the NHL as a full-time player in the 2017-18 season with the Dallas Stars, and he immediately impressed with his work ethic, high energy level, and surprising scoring touch. Pitlick scored 14 goals and 27 points in 80 games and looked to have cemented his place as a quality up-and-coming role player. But in the following season, Pitlick struggled with injuries and inconsistency, and his scoring dried up. Pitlick was traded to Philadelphia, and from that point, he took the role of a journeyman, bouncing from the Flyers to the Arizona Coyotes and then making stops with the Seattle Kraken (briefly) and Calgary Flames before being traded to the Montreal Canadiens in the middle of last season. At each stop, the package of tools Pitlick provided was largely the same.

Coaches from each stop called on Pitlick to provide energy-filled, hard-working bottom-six minutes with the physicality one would conventionally expect from a fourth-line specialist. Pitlick did just that and even saw some time as a penalty killer in his short stretch as a Montreal Canadien. The result of this four-year period during which he’s been a member of six organizations is that Pitlick has become a well-known commodity. When Pitlick steps onto an NHL ice, fans and coaches know exactly what to expect. But even still, he remains without a contract for next season.

Pitlick is still just 30 years old, so it’s a bit of a surprise that he hasn’t found a landing spot as a veteran depth player. That being said, the pressures of the flat-cap world may be causing teams to seek internal options to fill the role Pitlick would typically occupy in a lineup. But even so, it’s hard to imagine that not a single team could find a use for Pitlick’s services, and it’s likely that he’ll eventually find his way into a training camp as we finish up the offseason.

Stats:

2021-22: 39 games, 1 goal, 4 assists, 5 points, 6 PIMs, 36 shots, 70 hits, 10:56 ATOI

Career: 325 games, 48 goals, 41 assists, 89 points, 84 PIMs, 453 shots, 649 hits, 12:44 ATOI

Potential Suitors:

What Pitlick offers on the ice gives him a pretty clear organizational role. The best fit for a player like him, a veteran bottom-six role player, is in an organization that either is hard-pressed against the cap and wants to add some experienced, reliable depth, or an organization hoping to introduce more young players into its lineup.

It might sound a bit odd for the latter type of team to be a fit for Pitlick, but one has to remember that all NHL teams, even rebuilders, intend to be competitive outfits. No team is going to outright hand lineup spots to its youngsters, and no team wants to be forced into playing its young players on the NHL roster before those players are ready. So, with that in mind, Pitlick can help those teams by not only providing experienced camp competition for lineup spots for those young players but also providing protection for them in case those said players need some additional seasoning in the AHL, as Pitlick can be relied upon to hold down a roster spot until the player has been deemed developed enough to be in the NHL full-time.

With those two team types in mind, a few clubs stick out as possible fits for Pitlick. The Chicago Blackhawks may want to add some additional competition for less proven players such as Boris Katchouk, Taylor Raddysh, Mackenzie Entwistle or Reese Johnson. Pitlick would provide that. One of Pitlick’s former teams, the Philadelphia Flyers, could add him in order to compete with depth players such as Max Willman, Zack MacEwen and Isaac Ratcliffe, among others.

A cap-strapped contender such as the St. Louis Blues might prefer Pitlick to players currently projected to be in the mix for their nightly lineup such as Nathan Walker or Matthew Highmore.

The point in outlining some possible suitors is that Pitlick is the type of player who could reasonably fit at the bottom of any NHL lineup. He could land with pretty much any NHL team, and the signing could be considered a sensible move.

Projected Contract:

Pitlick played on a $1.75M cap hit last season, but it’s virtually impossible that he makes that sort of figure next season, especially as he’s competing to sign in a similar role to a more highly regarded bottom-sixer in Tyler Motte, whose free agency our John Gilroy profiled earlier this month. As previously outlined, a large part of Pitlick’s value to a team would come from his ability to serve as veteran training camp competition for a team’s youngsters. As a result, it’s definitely possible that a PTO is the route Pitlick takes to earn an NHL deal. That being said, a one-year contract at approximately the league minimum would also make sense.