With just one week to go until most teams open their training camps, veteran James van Riemsdyk is expected to settle for a professional tryout before attempting to land a guaranteed contract for 2024-25, Chris Johnston of The Athletic and TSN reports.
JVR may not have cracked our list of Top 50 Unrestricted Free Agents this offseason, but he is the cream of the crop still left without a contract. The 35-year-old led all unsigned UFAs in points per game last season with 0.54, posting 11 goals and 38 points in 71 games during his lone year as a Bruin.
He averaged a relatively meager 13:30 per game, and expecting him to repeat that level of production in a middle-six role is a relatively safe bet. He shot 7.7% last year, over four points under his career average, and regression back to the mean there should help negate any age-related decline that may be in store.
Multiple teams are still showing interest in van Riemsdyk’s services, per Johnston, but it appears all of them want to see how JVR does on a camp tryout before offering him a one-way deal. The New Jersey native is entering his 16th NHL season, amassing 311 goals, 318 assists and 629 points in 1,011 career games with the Bruins, Flyers, and Maple Leafs.
He’s hit the 20-goal mark seven times in his career, although he’s done so just once since 2020. He’s stayed relatively healthy, only missing 11 games last season and playing in all 82 three years ago with Philadelphia.
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Pro Hockey Rumors…