Following this weekend’s fairly uneventful draft, the Blackhawks announced a minor trade this afternoon with the Vancouver Canucks.
The Blackhawks sent center Tanner Kero to Vancouver for another center, Michael Chaput (sha-POO). Chaput, a 6’2″ 204 lbs center from Quebec, was selected by the Philadelphia Flyers (3rd round, 89th overall) in the 2010 entry draft. He was traded to Columbus in 2011 and then signed by Vancouver as a free agent in 2016. He played a career high 68 NHL games in 2016-17, collecting nine points (4G, 5A).
Last season, Chaput played most of the year in Utica, with the Canucks AHL affiliate, putting up an impressive 42 points (17G, 25A, 59 PIM). In a very limited time with the NHL club, the 26 year old had no points in nine games.
Tanner Kero was signed as a college free agent out of Michigan Tech in 2015, after a successful season where he was a Hobey Baker finalist. He spent most of his career in Rockford but was able to stick with the NHL club for 47 games in 2016-17. More recently, this past season, Kero was passed over on the depth chart by David Kampf and his time in the Blackhawks organization seemed to have passed.