Kyle Chipchura goes for a 4th rounder

Another Canadiens prospect was traded this week in Kyle Chipchura.

In the other recent trade, local boy Guillaume Latendresse had been sent to the Minnesota Wild for former 4th overall pick Benoit Pouilot.

Latendresse has made the best of his new surroundings right away putting up 3 points in 3 games (2 goals and 1 assist). There’s still alot of games left to play so I’m not sure it warrants the “fire Gainey” cheers just yet. I believe in giving hindsight a bit more time. We should see Pouilot soon.

But back to the latest…. Kyle Chipchura was traded to the Anaheim Ducks for a 4th round pick in the 2011 draft.

Chipchura was drafted 18th overall in the 2004 entry draft. Chipchura is another Habs prospect that was expected to develop to a certain level and simply didn’t. As to why I’m not sure and I won’t attempt to speculate.

At times I thought Chipchura showed great hockey smarts and he also didn’t shy away from a physical game… throwing down the gloves for a teammate..etc.

But this year there was simply a total lack of offense on his part and this trade may have been made inevitable by the emergence of guys like Ryan White and Tom Pyatt.

Chipchura had a big setback early on in his career when he severed an Achilles tendon and it possibly took away from his skating.

He was chosen by Brent Sutter to captain Canada’s 2006 World Junior Team. Sutter said of him:

“He’s a heart and soul guy and when you have a team that is perhaps lacking some experience at the national level, which obviously we are, you need a real strong character and real strong person mentally that’s totally committed to the way we want to play. He’s probably a huge reflection of myself.”
- Brent Sutter taken on Wikipedia

I liked Chipchura as a player, at times he showed grit and made smart plays…. in Hamilton his leadership skills shined through. But all in all he just couldn’t cement his spot on the roster.

I think the Ducks get a great team player who may fill a certain need. And having a pick is never a bad thing.

Good luck Kyle!

Yves Arsenault is a blogger from PEI. He also writes about the Canadiens on his blog Yves on Habs and can be found on twitter @yves_on_habs.

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