It was announced today that the Canucks have signed James Sheppard to a PTO, which J.D. Burke had covered earlier.

At the same time, it was announced that Finnish forward Tuomo Ruutu was signed to a PTO.

There have been suggestions that the Canucks should use PTO’s to create competition and possible find players that have been overlooked. Ruutu is a interesting choice to invite to training camp solely because he has struggled to create offence for a few years. Which is something the Canucks need.

But there are things that Ruutu does that makes him worth the zero asset or financial cost of a PTO.

Ruutu played last season in New Jersey where he posted one assist in 33 appearances. He hasn’t had more than 16 points since the 2011-12 season. But did have decent shot suppression and shot generation numbers over the past few seasons:

With all the being said, Ruutu is a player who can skate well and given the underlying defensive impact could be a decent 13th or 14th forward. If anything he will push the incumbent players like Brendan Gaunce and Alexandre Grenier.

There is no harm in signing Ruutu to a PTO, it costs the Canucks nothing.