Canucks Deal
The Vancouver Canucks traded forward Anthony Beauvillier to the Chicago Blackhawks for a 2024 conditional 5th-round NHL Draft choice on Tuesday. The condition being that Vancouver will receive the Blackhawks highest available 5th-round pick.
The 26-year-old French Canadian winger had two goals and six assists in 22 games for the Canucks this season. He came over last January from the New York Islanders in the trade for Vancouver captain Bo Horvat.
That leaves prospect centre Aatu Raty and 2023 1st-round draft pick Axel-Sandin Pellika as the remaining assets from the deal.
Beauvillier moved around the pecking order up front since being acquired and despite seeing time in the top-6 this season under head coach Rick Tocchet, he never discovered his scoring mojo. He did prove to be a valuable two-way forward.
Canucks Cash
Likely of greatest importance, the Canucks freed up $4.15-million in pro-rated salary cap space. Beauvillier becomes the 2nd most expensive healthy forward for Chicago and is an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season.
The Blackhawks were a bit desperate, especially following the termination of forward Corey Perry’s contract. The veteran winger will have his contract terminated for reasons related to an incident apparently involving a team employee.
Regardless of the cause, add Perry to a list of missing forwards. Taylor Hall, Andreas Athanasiou, and Colin Blackwell are all on injured reserve up front.
Despite their limitations, the Blackhawks beat the Seattle Kraken 4-3 on Tuesday night.
The Canucks now have more than $5-million in current cap space to work with, giving them personnel options moving forward into a season that’s showing great promise.
— Beauvillier played his junior hockey with the Shawinigan Cataractes in the Quebec League and was drafted by the Islanders 28th-overall in the 2015 NHL Draft.
