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Another day, another professional tryout (PTO) handed out by the New Jersey Devils. This one has been issued to defenseman Tim Erixon. The 26-year old had a lot of promise when the New York Rangers acquired him from the Calgary Flames. This is very interesting because he hasn’t really panned out anywhere he’s gone to so far. He almost always manages to find his way back into the AHL.

“I never really got an impression of him (Erixon) but from what I can tell, he’s a fringe NHLer,” Casey Bryant, a writer for Get More Sports said. “He was essentially free from Calgary, so when the Rangers flipped him in the Nash trade there wasn’t much of a loss there,”

Bryant raises a good point about being on the fringe because since Erixon broke into the NHL six seasons ago, he’s only appeared in 93 career games out of a possible 376. This means he’s only spent 25 percent of his pro-career in the NHL. He also has no offensive outlook with just 14 points in that span.

There was a lot of promise for Erixon when he was drafted 23rd overall by the Flames in the 2009 NHL draft.  The past two seasons, he’s played in Wilkes-Barre Scranton for the Pittsburgh Penguins affiliate. He hasn’t even seen any action with Pittsburgh, and played his last NHL game for the Maple Leafs in the 2014-15.

As for what will become of Erixon’s PTO, that’s up in the air. Everyone knows the NHL is a crazy place and anything can happen on any given day. Even with the current state of New Jersey’s defense, I don’t see a spot for him in any of the top-three defensive pairings. He reminds me of Rod Pelley- a player who didn’t pan out anywhere in the NHL and is a career AHLer. Granted this analysis has nothing to do with his brief stint as a Ranger, I sincerely don’t see him fitting in the New Jersey Devils roster, since there are other prospects that could be rotated instead of Erixon. It’s a true shame since he was once a highly-touted prospect who seemed to have fallen from grace. It’s unfortunate but that is how hockey goes sometimes.