Ex-BlackHawk Officially Hits Rock Bottom.

Essentially, a PTO is a temporary contract that an NHL team can give to a former NHL player who hasn't been signed by anyone else. The team has no legal obligation to keep them if they do not pan out.

One player who has seen his PTO cancelled is former Blackhawks forward Artem Anisimov. The Detroit Red Wings decided to sign him to one of these PTOs to see if there was anything left in the tank that he could offer the Red Wings. It appears that's not the case.

Many NHL pundits and fans believe that this will be the end of the road for Anisimov, as he has had an interesting career thus far, playing 771 games for the NHL. He scored 180 goals with 196 during his time with the Blue Jackets, Blackhawks, and Senators.

The Flyers' farm team, the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, was another stop for him as he attempted to come back into the NHL, where he scored nineteen goals with 17 assists.

It remains to be seen what will happen to him moving forward, but it appears that his NHL career is over.