The Vancouver Canucks have added a little bit of padding to their forward depth today, signing right winger Adam Cracknell to a one-year contact, as per TVA’s Renaud Lavoie.

The deal pays Cracknell $575,000 if he remains in the National Hockey League. Making that permanent jump to the big show isn’t something that Cracknell has had a ton of success with, however – he’s played NHL games in each of the past five season but has never had a look longer than his 24 game stint in 2010/11 with St. Louis, where he scored a career high of seven points.

While Cracknell will no doubt get every chance to prove that he belongs in Canucks training camp next month, it’s far more likely that he’ll miss the final cut, clear waivers, and make his way to the Utica Comets. Though he’s not exactly a “AAAA” offensive talent in the American Hockey League, this is probably where the organization sees the most use out of him. Cracknell had 20 points in 40 games with Springfield and Chicago last year, a steep fall from his 25 point in 28 game run that he had with the Wolves in 2013/14.

Due to his low cap hit, sending Cracknell down to the minors will not penalize the Canucks in any way. In fact, seeing as he signed a two-way contract, they’ll pay fewer real dollars when he’s down with Utica. More likely than not, he’ll bounce back and forth between the two teams, filling in as a fourth line forward in the event of injuries or suspensions when the team doesn’t feel like calling up a young player who needs more time or a more immediate waiver risk.