Devin Setoguchi of the Los Angeles Kings during a preseason game against the Anaheim Ducks at Staples Center on September 28, 2016 in Los Angeles, California. (Getty Images)

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. – For Devin Setoguchi, there is no promise of tomorrow with the Los Angeles Kings

A bad practice or a bad game, and the former 31-goal scorer could find his way home. This is the life of a veteran on a professional tryout (PTO) and Setoguchi knows this. He understands where he is in his career ,and that he needs to break through during these weeks in order to continue playing in the NHL.

“I mean, when you’re on a PTO, you never know which day could be your last day,” Setoguchi said. “You just go out and play and you leave it all out there and you can’t hold anything back.”

The 29-year-old Setoguchi last played in the NHL on Nov. 22, 2014 with the Calgary Flames. After that season – where he also spent time in the AHL with the Adirondack Flames – Setoguchi entered rehab for substance abuse.

[Sign up to play Yahoo Fantasy Hockey for free | Mock Draft |Latest news]

Last season, Setoguchi went to the Toronto Maple Leafs on a PTO and didn’t make the team. This led to him eventually landing in Switzerland. But after a year in HC Davos and a hard summer of training, he’s ready for one more push to make an NHL roster.

“He can still play at a high pace,” Kings coach Darryl Sutter said. “Not all players have the great desire to do that every day. He’s still here, so that means he’s got a good assessment. It doesn’t make sense going farther than that. Came in in good shape, came in and played a pace, came in and played the way that we need to play. Just continue to every day just try and help him and give him some direction, and then he takes the ball.”

In 2005, the San Jose Sharks took Setoguchi was the eighth overall pick in the draft. He flourished almost immediately with 31 goals and 65 points in his first full NHL season in 2008-09. But after then, he never touched 22 goals. Setoguchi was traded to the Minnesota Wild in the deal that brought Brent Burns to the Sharks after the 2010-11 season. From then on he didn’t score more than 19 goals in a season. In his last full NHL season, in 2013-14 with the Winnipeg Jets, Setoguchi scored 11 goals.

He signed with the Calgary Flames before the 2014-15 season and tried to put them at ease on the contract by promising them he would be sober during the deal. But in an interview with Sportsnet last year he noted “that (sobriety) lasted all of a couple of weeks.”

Setoguchi opened up further in a recent interview with The Hockey News on how he completely lost his way while he was out with a hernia during 2014-15.

It all caught up to him April 1, 2015. Back in St. Louis, two and a half months after his surgery for a follow-up medical exam, he got sick. His stomach started to burn and he was coughing up blood – a result, he later learned, of a stomach ulcer and liver problems he had developed from all the drinking. Despite swearing off booze earlier that day, Setoguchi was shaking so badly on the way to the airport that he headed straight to the bar. “I ordered a double Jameson and boom, shot it back, had another one, shot it back,” Setoguchi said. “I sat there for an hour until the floodgates opened and I started bawling. I just sat there and I cried and I cried and I cried. The bartender said, ‘Are you OK?’ And I’m like, ‘No, but keep pouring me drinks.’ ”

His flight out of St. Louis departed without him.

Later that day, Setoguchi called Dr. Brian Shaw, co-founder of the substance abuse program endorsed by the league and the NHL Players Association. Setoguchi said Shaw told him he had to continue to drink until he got into rehab or the alcohol withdrawal could kill him.

After Setoguchi completed his stint in rehab, he said he weighed 230 pounds – far above his typical playing weight of 200. He slimmed down before training camp, but said he wasn’t in hockey shape.

“I was out for like three months, but I had to lose 30 pounds, so I lost 30 pounds, but that’s not hockey training,” Setoguchi said. “That’s a lot of cross training. A lot of little diet supplementary stuff. It’s not building a lot of muscle. You’re losing fat to try to slim down so I wasn’t able to gain strength so I was really on a different training schedule than I would be for a hockey player.”

After the Maple Leafs released him from his tryout, Setoguchi signed in Davos where he found some peace, both in his life and in his game. He didn’t need to deal with the day-in-day-out grind of the NHL. He didn’t have to face constant questions about his career drop-off. Instead he could just play hockey pressure free and enjoy life. There he notched 11 goals and 13 assists in 30 games played.

Story continues