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Michael Chaput | C/W

-AJ-

By -AJ-
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Boudrias Canucks All-Star

Boudrias

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Chaput-Skille-Gaunce have been a solid 4th line most of the year. Their ozone play has been as good as any some nights. Chaput is solid in the FO and at 210 handles heavy play well. While I doubt Megna lasts past the end of the season I can certainly see Chaput back next year.

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Cramarossa Canucks Third-Line

Cramarossa

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Here's an article by Iain McIntyre on Chaput. I think it's a fair assessment. Chappy is not bad at all for the role he plays. I do see shades of Burr in his game. I hope he can make a name for himself and stick around.

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For all the online howling about Michael Chaput’s deployment, a kind of default criticism that veers toward outright ridicule, the 24-year-old’s greatest sin by far is his guilt-by-association with Willie Desjardins. The Vancouver Canucks’ coach likes the centre.

More than that, Desjardins trusts Chaput, which is why only the mumps has kept him out of the Canucks’ lineup since his November promotion to the National Hockey League from the Utica Comets.

 

Chaput is an everyday fourth-liner who sometimes plays up the lineup and, at the end of a Jan. 26 game in Arizona, was deployed as a sixth attacker when Desjardins pulled goalie Ryan Miller. And thus, Twitter did blow up in Vancouver.

 

Chaput has four goals in 52 games this season and the last of these earned the Canucks a point in their 2-1 overtime loss Tuesday against the Montreal Canadiens. There are better offensive options than Chaput if you are searching for a tying goal.

 

 

 

Michael Chaput celebrates his goal against the Canadiens. Jonathan Hayward / The Canadian Press

If Desjardins had thrown 21-year-old newcomer Nikolay Goldobin out in the final minutes Tuesday, the coach would have been praised for his player development. Find a way to get Jake Virtanen and Jordan Subban up from the American Hockey League and in the lineup and the Internet might even allow Desjardins to keep his job.

 

But Chaput is just lineup filler, right?

 

Just a minor-leaguer who got called up by a bad team and has been favoured by a coach who inexplicably fails to appreciate talented, young players. (The success of Bo Horvat, Sven Baertschi, Markus Granlund, Troy Stecher, Nikita Tryamkin and Jacob Markstrom complicates this narrative, but never mind.)

 

Maybe.

 

Except Chaput was a third-round draft pick of the Philadelphia Flyers and only now is being given a chance to play close to a full NHL season. Except he is a 6-2, 200-pound centre who wins more than half his faceoffs, has the same Corsi-for as Horvat (47 per cent), is a solid skater, lit up the AHL with 13 points in 10 games before his recall, and has a Memorial Cup and Calder Cup on his resume.

 

 

 

Chaput as a Flyer.

And except that Chaput was mentored this season by Alex Burrows and occupies the dressing room stall between Brandon Sutter and Henrik Sedin, one seat over from Daniel Sedin, who sees some of Burrows’ traits in Chaput.

 

“He sits there and I know he’s listening,” Danny Sedin said after Wednesday’s practice. “He was around Burr a lot and talked to him. Those are the kind of young guys you want on your team. You don’t have to talk to the older guys all the time, but just look at what they’re doing, see how they act on the ice and off the ice. That’s how you learn.

 

 

“I don’t know if he’s going to be the same kind of player, but he picked up a lot from Burr.”

 

Traded last week to the Ottawa Senators, Burrows played 822 games for the Canucks after going undrafted and beginning his journey to the NHL with a tryout in the East Coast League.

 

Starting on the fourth line, Burrows scored just three times in 81 games in his first full season with the Canucks. At age 25.

 

Burrows and Chaput, who turns 25 next month, are from the Montreal area.

 

We don’t know if Chaput will have half the career that Burrows has had. He may not have an NHL career at all. But Chaput is an actual prospect with a foundation to build on, and he probably deserves more respect than he has been shown outside the Canuck organization.

 

“You’ve already nailed it: there’s guilt through association,” Desjardins said. “I think he’s a good player. I think he’s a smart player. I think he has helped us. He’s come in — he started in the American League — and he’s played regularly for us all year and he’s done a good job. He’s been consistent.

 

“I didn’t see Burrows at the start (of his career) so I can’t make that comparison. But I know I like Chaput and I know I trust him.”

 

Chaput is averaging 9:47 of ice time. Burrows averaged 10:24 as a rookie in 2005-06.

 

“Ever since I got here, I was hanging out with him,” Chaput said of Burrows. “I just think he’s a really good pro. He talked to me about his path and the way he did it. It was an almost impossible path, to be honest with you. He did it by working really hard, and I don’t see why I can’t do the same.

 

“I think the season has gone pretty well (for me). I’ve spent most of my time on the fourth line, but I think I’ve been playing pretty well, playing with a defence-first mindset. You have to make the coach trust you. And if he does, he’ll play you more and that’s when the rest will come.”

 

 

Alex Burrows and Michael Chaput celebrate a goal. Jeffrey T. Barnes / ASSOCIATED PRESS

The Flyers traded Chaput to the Columbus Blue Jackets the season after his draft in 2010. He spent five years in the Columbus organization, got only 58 NHL games over parts of the last three seasons and was scooped up by the Canucks as a free agent last July 1.

 

He is aware some fans think his ice time should be given to a flashier prospect.

 

“Obviously, you read some stuff,” Chaput said. “But you can’t control it. I try not to pay attention to what those people say. They’re allowed their opinion, but I’m the one playing. I’m here and I’m trying to make the most of it

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DownUndaCanuck Canucks Franchise Player

DownUndaCanuck

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He looked good with the Sedins, question will be how good an off-season he has and whether he has a role with the Canucks next year. I think if he finishes strong like this he will but under 10 points of production really isn't enough, even for the 4th line, if you're not overly physical, a shutdown center or PKer. He needs to find a role in this team if he wants to stick for next year but right now he's done really well.

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Father Ryan Abbotsford Star

Father Ryan

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This is one 4th line player I would consider an asset to the team. He's not small; no he doesn't play a particularly heavy game, but still. He wins more than half his FOs; very nice stat to have, especially with a preponderance of defensive zone faceoffs. He's a playmaker, rather than a goal scorer; he knows how to play a 200ft game.

If we lose Gaunce, I'd say Chaput has a better than even chance to start with us again. Even if we don't lose Gaunce, I like the insurance that he brings to the team. Cassels may be ready year after next, in which case we can afford to lose Chaput. But, if he isn't...we don't have another two way center in our depth that would be as much of an asset on the 4th line as Chaput.

Don't say Gaudette...he's likely a 2nd/3rd line player, much more talent (apparently), he doesn't need to be wasted on the 4th line.

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Nuxfanabroad Canucks Hall-of-Famer

Nuxfanabroad

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31 minutes ago, Father Ryan said:

This is one 4th line player I would consider an asset to the team. He's not small; no he doesn't play a particularly heavy game, but still. He wins more than half his FOs; very nice stat to have, especially with a preponderance of defensive zone faceoffs. He's a playmaker, rather than a goal scorer; he knows how to play a 200ft game.

If we lose Gaunce, I'd say Chaput has a better than even chance to start with us again. Even if we don't lose Gaunce, I like the insurance that he brings to the team. Cassels may be ready year after next, in which case we can afford to lose Chaput. But, if he isn't...we don't have another two way center in our depth that would be as much of an asset on the 4th line as Chaput.

Don't say Gaudette...he's likely a 2nd/3rd line player, much more talent (apparently), he doesn't need to be wasted on the 4th line.

Agree..thought he was a good Chappy.

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Alflives Canucks Hall-of-Famer

Alflives

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1 minute ago, EternalCanuckFan said:

What's Utica's center depth?  Megna, Cassels, Valk, etc?

 

Chaput is good for depth.  Would not mind seeing him back.

Think the Canuck's fourth line centre will be a competition between Gaunce and Chaput.

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Father Ryan Abbotsford Star

Father Ryan

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42 minutes ago, Alflives said:

Think the Canuck's fourth line centre will be a competition between Gaunce and Chaput.

Totally agree. With his size, I believe its Gaunce's position to lose, but Chaput showed last year that he isn't much of a downgrade at all.

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-AJ- Canucks Hall-of-Famer

-AJ-

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39 minutes ago, Mackcanuck said:

 

Good to hear. I think he has a chance at being valuable on our fourth line, or as an extra forward. If we somehow have more depth than I expect, he'd be hugely valuable to Utica too.

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