Shortly after hiring Jared Bednar as their new head coach earlier today, the team has added free agent winger Rene Bourque on a tryout deal, reports James Mirtle of the Globe and Mail.
Bourque played in just 49 games with Columbus last season, picking up a career low three goals and five assists while logging just 10:27 per game so it’s no surprise that he has to go for the PTO route to try to secure an NHL deal for next year. He earned $2.5MM in salary last season in the final year of a front loaded six year, $20MM contract.
Bourque has played in 660 career NHL games between the Blue Jackets, Ducks, Canadiens, and Flames, picking up 151 goals and 147 assists. The Avs have four forwards at the World Cup (Matt Duchene, Gabriel Landeskog, Nathan MacKinnon, and Carl Soderberg) so Bourque should have a chance to get into several preseason games to make his case for a full-time roster spot.
[Related: Updated Avalanche Depth Chart]
Bourque is now the 11th player to receive a training camp tryout. Keep tabs on all of the invites with our Invite Tracker.