Brendan Smith is the last Detroit Red Wings draft pick from 2007 or earlier still active in the NHL. At least he hopes he’ll be in the NHL for another season. The 36-year-old defenseman signed a professional tryout contract Tuesday with the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Lucic joined the St. Louis Blues, while Smith is headed to the Columbus Blue Jackets. After Jack Johnson signed a PTO with the Minnesota Wild on Aug. 11, this could be the start of more NHL free agents taking a tryout to convince teams they deserve a contract this fall.

Summer’s logjam is slowly starting to breakup with the recent news that Milan Lucic is going to St. Louis on a pro tryout. Brendan Smith will be headed to Columbus on a PTO. And don’t think it escaped attention that 38-year old Jack Johnson has agreed to a tryout with Minnesota last week.

The Oilers have been linked to forwards Max Pacioretty and Klim Kostin, and goalies Ilya Samsonov and Alexandar Georgiev in PTOs by NHL analyst Rob Couch.

Former Boston Bruins star Milan Lucic is looking to make an NHL comeback as hesigned a PTO with a Western team.The post Former Bruins Star Signs PTO With West Team to Pursue NHL Comebackappeared first on Heavy Sports.