Colaiacovo and Upshall troll Stralman over his PTO with the Bruins.

Earlier this morning the Boston Bruins officially confirmed that they had signed veteran defenseman Anton Stralman to a professional tryout offer (PTO). The announcement from the Bruins confirmed a rumor that had been floating about for the last 24 hours or so, one that appears to have amused a pair of former National Hockey League veterans.

Those two former National Hockey Leaguers were former Nashville Predators first round pick Scottie Upshall and former Toronto Maple Leafs first round pick Carlo Colaiacovo, both of whom had a very interesting take on the timing of this move on the part of Stralman and the Bruins. It was Colaiacovo who was the first to comment on the timing of the move, wondering perhaps if Stralman had waited this long to agree to the offer on purpose.

"Agreeing to a PTO after camp opens is a veteran move," wrote Colaiacovo via his Twitter, "avoiding all the skating tests lol."

If it sounds like Colaiacovo might be speaking from experience here it's because he is. The former 17th overall pick at the 2001 NHL Entry Draft admitted as much when he was asked by a fan if it was something he himself had done during his career.

"Absolutely," admitted Colaiacovo.

Upshall however had a different take on the matter, chiming in with his two cents by stating that Stralman would be missing out on all the fun of training camp as well.

"Then u miss all the pre camp fun… golf tourney, beers w the boys, bag skates…" wrote Upshall via his Twitter.

Upshall may have been a little less than sincere when throwing the bag skates into the mix, but it sounds like he genuinely feels like the fun of training camp outweighs the downsides. Colaiacovo however had a response to that as well, by simply stating he would make up for lost time by being the first to buy a round after missing out on the fun.

"I’ll be the first to buy the beers anytime after that to makeup for it," he wrote.

Something tells me that the 37 year old Stralman, coming off a forgettable season with the Arizona Coyotes, will be far more focused on establishing himself before the start of the regular season than on having fun.