Ahead of their contest against the Los Angeles Kings tonight, the Canucks have recalled forward Michael Chaput from the Utica Comets. The full press release is as follows:

At this moment, there is no word on if Chaput will draw into the lineup but given that the Canucks dressed 7 defencemen last game and Alex Biega was out late working after practice – they may go back to 12-6 formation and have Chaput slide into the lineup.

Chaput had been up with the Canucks prior to the NHL Roster Freeze and was assigned to ensure that they didn’t use up his remaining days of waiver free assignment during the break. I broke it down a little more deeply here.

As mentioned in the post, Chaput has 23 days used of the 30-day limit before needing waivers to go back to Utica. Given the announcement time, it’s safe to assume that they will be using one day already for the game today. So effectively, after today, Chaput can remain on the Canucks roster for 6 more days after today. Otherwise, he will require waivers to be reassigned to the Comets.

Given how many PTO’s the Comets currently have – it’s fair to believe that the organization wouldn’t recall Chaput to just sit in the press box and use up his waiver exemption. So if Chaput doesn’t play tonight, expect him in the coming days.