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Veteran d-man Lee going to Preds camp on PTO

Ottawa Senators v New York Islanders

Ottawa Senators v New York Islanders

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The Predators are bringing in some experience on the blueline.

Brian Lee, a veteran of over 200 NHL contests, has been invited to Nashville’s training camp on a professional tryout basis, the club announced on Wednesday.

The 27-year-old rearguard -- taken ninth overall by Ottawa at the 2005 NHL Entry Draft -- spent the majority of his NHL career with the Sens, recording a career-high 13 points during the 2008-09 campaign. He was acquired by Tampa Bay in 2012 but tore his ACL while skating for AHL Syracuse during the ’13 Calder Cup playoffs, and hasn’t played since.

Lee is a relatively well-known commodity in NHL circles. He’s a former Minnesota Mr. Hockey that played on a dynamic University of North Dakota team featuring Jonathan Toews, T.J. Oshie, Travis Zajac and Drew Stafford (obviously, a few scouts showed up to watch them play), and could have a shot at cracking a Preds blueline that isn’t bursting with depth.

Right now, the top seven projects to be Shea Weber, Seth Jones, Roman Josi, Victor Bartley, Anton Volchenkov, Mattias Ekholm and Ryan Ellis -- but the latter is currently embroiled in a contract negotiation and could end up missing training camp.

Of course, in light of the Ellis situation, here are some suggesting Lee might be nothing more than a training camp body.