Maple Leafs could bet big on a two-time All-Star's tryout comeback

Patrik Laine's name keeps surfacing in Toronto, and the Maple Leafs could take a real look at him before camp opens.

With training camp just days away, teams around the league are still hunting for cheap depth on professional tryouts. Toronto shouldn't sit this out.

The Leafs have made a habit of finding value here, previously landing players like Max Pacioretty and Steven Lorentz on tryout deals that turned into real jobs.

Toronto finished last season 32-36-14 for 78 points, last in the Atlantic Division, capped by a seven-game losing streak.

New head coach Jim Hiller inherits that mess. Depth signings like these become part of his puzzle heading into his first training camp behind the bench.

The blue line is where the uncertainty starts. Chris Tanev is dealing with an abdomen issue and Max Domi is nursing a back problem, both questionable for the start of the season.

That's exactly why Nick Blankenburg makes sense. The right-shot defenceman split last season between the Nashville Predators and Colorado Avalanche, putting up 24 points in 61 games.

He moves the puck well, reads the ice, and has logged time on both the power play and the penalty kill. It's genuinely strange he's still unsigned this deep into September.

Michael Bunting reunion with Matthews and Nylander gains steam

Blankenburg fixes one problem. The forward group needs its own look too, and Toronto already has history with a familiar face.

Michael Bunting once skated alongside Auston Matthews, William Nylander and John Tavares before leaving Toronto back in 2023. He's been on the move ever since, getting dealt three times.

Bunting split last season between the Nashville Predators and the Dallas Stars, appearing in 74 games and recording 33 points. Not the player he was on Toronto's top line, but not nothing either.

Then there's Patrik Laine, the boldest swing of the three. He missed all but five games last season, recording just one assist, after core-muscle surgery in late October wiped out his year.

Would you actually trust Laine to stay on the ice for a full season? Nobody really knows anymore, and that's the entire risk here.

In his last somewhat healthy year, Laine scored 20 goals, 15 of them on the power play. That kind of shooting touch doesn't just disappear.

A PTO is like a test drive before anyone signs a loan. No commitment, no cap hit, just a real look under the hood before training camp roster decisions get made.

Handing Laine anything guaranteed right now would be reckless given his injury history. But a no-risk tryout look costs Toronto nothing and could pay off if the shooting touch is still there.

None of these three moves the needle by themselves. But depth wins and loses close games, and Toronto lost plenty of those last season on the way to 78 points.

Camp opens soon, and Toronto still hasn't announced a single tryout name. That silence won't last much longer.