Arizona Coyotes trade Jordan Weal for Montreal’s Michael Chaput
Feb 25, 2019, 9:42 AM | Updated: 12:24 pm
Montreal Canadiens center Michael Chaput (43) battles for the puck with Chicago Blackhawks left wing Brandon Saad (20) during the first period of an NHL hockey game Sunday, Dec. 9, 2018, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Kamil Krzaczynski)
(AP Photo/Kamil Krzaczynski)
The Arizona Coyotes have traded center Jordan Weal to the Montreal Canadiens in exchange for center Michael Chaput, the team announced Monday just hours before the trade deadline.
Weal played only 19 games for Arizona after the Coyotes traded defenseman Jacob Graves, who had been in the ECHL, and a sixth-round pick to the Philadelphia Flyers to get Weal back in January.
The Coyotes have now flipped their short-lived asset for Chaput, who has no goals and five assists in 32 NHL games for Montreal this season. He has averaged 11:13 of ice time per night.
Chaput has played in parts of five NHL seasons with Montreal, the Columbus Blue Jackets and Vancouver Canucks. His most productive season came in 2016-17 with Vancouver, when he played 68 games and scored four goals with five assists.
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He has registered a faceoff win percentage above 50 percent in each of the last four seasons, with 53.9 percent overall in 117 games in that span. Weal also had history of some proficiency in the faceoff circle, an area that Arizona took a hit to when it traded Dylan Strome to Chicago earlier in the season.
The trade comes as center Christian Dvorak makes his way back from injuries that have prevented him from playing an NHL game this season. Not long after the trade on Monday, the Coyotes recalled Dvorak from Tucson, where he was serving a conditioning assignment to prepare for NHL action.
According to CapFriendly, Chaput carries a $675,000 cap hit on his contract, which runs through next season. Earlier this month, he cleared waivers to be sent to the minors, where he’s been since then.
Weal would have had to clear waivers to be sent down to the AHL.
