Bruins Release Chiasson From Professional Tryout

It wasn’t exactly the best birthday for forward Alex Chiasson, as the Boston Bruins released him from the professional tryout agreement he signed with them on August 21.

Alex Chiasson, who turned 33 on Sunday, played in just one preseason game for the Boston Bruins, and it didn’t go well for the PTO hopeful. Chiasson missed two prime powerplay scoring chances in a 4-1 loss to the Buffalo Sabres, finishing with no points in 14:23 TOI. While seeing Chiasson make a fifth team on a professional tryout, the hard truth is that the 6-foot-4, 208-pound winger never provided the net-front presence at even strength and on the powerplay that the Boston Bruins signed to a PTO for. The third line right wing slot was there for the taking, and Chiasson just couldn’t seem to get going in his 11 days at Bruins training camp.

Chiasson had nine goals and 11 assists in 29 games with the Red Wings’ AHL affiliate, the Grand Rapids Griffins in the 2022-23 regular season.

The Dallas Stars selected Alex Chiasson in the second round (38^th overall) of the 2009 NHL Entry Draft. After scoring 36 goals and amassing 63 assists in three seasons with Boston University, the Montreal, Quebec, native signed a three-year, $2.7 million ($866,667 AAV) entry-level contract with the Dallas Stars. He played nine games with the team’s AHL affiliate, the Texas Stars, down the stretch run of the 2011-12 season and then made his NHL debut the following season, scoring six goals and one assist in seven games. Chiasson had 13 goals and 22 assists in 79 games of his first full season in the NHL in 2013-14.

After two seasons with the Stars, Alex Chiasson would go on to play for the Ottawa Senators (2014-2016), the Calgary Flames (2016-17), the Washington Capitals (2017-18), the Edmonton Oilers (2018-2021), the Vancouver Canucks (2021-22), and then the Red Wings last season. His best season came in 2018-19 when he scored 22 goals and had 16 assists in 73 games for the Oilers.

Chiasson was also a member of the Washington Capitals when they won the Stanley Cup in the 2017-18 season. He had nine goals and nine assists in 61 regular season games that season and one goal and one assist in 16 playoff games.

Professional Tryouts are short-term deals that pay players a per diem and can last up to 25 games. The contracts can also be renewed. Typically, PTOs are used for professional players looking for AHL or NHL jobs in the early part of a season and amateur players, usually graduating juniors, looking for AHL or ECHL jobs in the spring.