Canucks trade Michael Chaput to Chicago for Tanner Kero
5 years ago
With everyone finding their way home from the draft on Sunday, the Canucks swung a minor deal:
Directly from the press release:
Kero, 25, split the 2017.18 season between the Blackhawks and Rockford IceHogs. He registered three points (1-2-3) in eight games with Chicago and 20 points (8-12-20) in 36 games with Rockford. The 6’0″, 185-pound centre has appeared in 72 career NHL games, collecting 22 points (8-14-22).
Kero has one year left in a two-year deal that was signed in March of 2017. He carries a $750,000 cap hit for the 2018-19 season on a one-way deal. Since that is under the maximum allowable amount to buried in the AHL, the one-way aspect should not be of worry. At the end of this season, Kero will be an RFA with arbitration rights.
Chaput was originally signed by the Canucks as an unrestricted free agent prior to the 2016-17 season and then signed another one-year deal the following summer. He was a pending RFA but since the deal has gone down, the Blackhawks did not tender a qualifying offer and thus Chaput will become a UFA.
The deal appears to be about opening up a contract spot for the Blackhawks and the Canucks get a tweener forward who can help the prospects in Utica or come up to the Canucks as needed.
It is a minor transaction but still interesting as Kero has done well at the AHL level but hasn’t been able to secure that full-time spot in the NHL.
