On Tuesday, Anthony Beauvillier was traded from the Vancouver Canucks to the Chicago Blackhawks in exchange for a conditional fifth-round pick in the 2024 NHL Draft.
The 26-year-old forward has accumulated eight points this season, with two goals and six assists in 22 games. Last season, he played 33 games for the Canucks, scoring nine goals and providing 11 assists, after being acquired in a trade that involved center Bo Horvat going to the New York Islanders on Jan. 30.
Beauvillier’s contract allows him to become an unrestricted free agent after this season.
“It’s business, right? We need the cap space,” Vancouver coach Rick Tocchet said after a 3-1 win against the Anaheim Ducks on Tuesday. “He’s a guy who was tradeable. We now have the cap space to get the stuff we need down the road. There’s competition in Abbotsford (of the American Hockey League) too. We’ll see what we use with that cap space down the road.”
Beauvillier, a first-round pick (No. 28) by the Islanders at the 2015 NHL Draft, has recorded 237 points in 512 regular-season games with the Canucks and Islanders, along with 29 points in 49 Stanley Cup Playoff games, all with New York.
The Blackhawks’ coach Luke Richardson previously worked with Beauvillier in 2017-18 when he was an assistant coach for the Islanders.
“I was there with him for a year,” Richardson said. “I believe it was his second year — still a young guy. I just found out that after [tonight’s] game as well. I know he’s definitely a little spitfire out there. He can skate, he can shoot, he brings energy. My first year when I was there, he played some time with (Mathew) Barzal, so he can play up the lineup [or] he can play in a working role.
“He’s played some time on the power play, and I think he had a fairly good, balanced year last year. I want to say he had eight or nine goals both with the Islanders and with Vancouver. Hopefully he brings some consistency and maybe some extra scoring, which we could use right now.”
Earlier Tuesday, the Chicago Blackhawks placed forward Corey Perry on waivers with the purpose of terminating his contract.
NHL.com staff writer Tracey Myers and independent correspondent Kevin Woodley contributed to this report
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