Professional Try-Out (PTO)

As of 2015-16, CSC clubs participate in a PTO ("Professional Try-Out") Draft 15 minutes following the conclusion of the full Draft.

The PTO spot allows teams to hold a very limited, time-sensitive “minor-league” system consisting of one (1) player. The PTO Draft consists of 1 round and 16 picks, whose order is entirely randomized following the conclusion of the full Draft.

PTO Draft & Regulations

 * Teams take turns making one selection from the available pool of free-agent players who were not drafted in the first 23 rounds.
 * General managers who are not present at the time of the PTO draft will automatically pass their pick to the next person.
 * Players not drafted over the course of the 23-round Draft and who are listed in the Yahoo Fantasy Hockey player database are the only ones eligible to be selected in the PTO Draft. Prospects who are not listed on Yahoo are thus not eligible to be drafted as PTO players.
 * These players will act as Tier D players (Round 23) like undrafted free agents.
 * Players who are drafted become the property of that team without having to be on their active roster in the following manner:
 * If the player is not indicated as “NA” (not active) as of the first day of the first matchup of the season, teams will have 14 days to decide whether to add that player to their active roster. During this time, no other team may add the PTO player.
 * After 14 days, if he has not been added to the active roster of the team that drafted him, the player’s rights are released to free-agency and any team may then put in a waiver claim for him
 * If the player is indicated as “NA” (not active) as of the first day of the first matchup of the season, the 14-day clock will not start until he is called up. Meaning, as long as he has not been called up to the NHL team (and thus loses his NA status), he will remain the property of the team that drafted him and during this time no team may add this player.
 * When the player is called up (and loses his NA status), the 14-day clock will start and the regular rules will apply: the team will have 14 days to add this player to this active roster. After 14 days, the player’s rights are released to free-agency and any team may put in a waiver claim for him.
 * As long as a player has not been called up, he may retain his PTO status. The second he is called up, however, the clock starts.

Teams who violate the PTO rule and put a waiver claim in for players whose rights belong to another team will see the player removed from their active roster and will face a fine.

Players whose rights are owned via a PTO and added to the CSC club holding their rights before the 14-day period has elapsed must play one game for their CSC club to be eligible to be kept. Players who lose their PTO status and are thereafter added to a CSC club are eligible to be kept as any standard player claimed off waivers would be.

// please note this page and rule will be updated in the 2021 offseason in time for the 2021-22 season.