The Vancouver Canucks have signed 30-year-old right wing Adam Cracknell to a one-year, two-way contract, according to TVA Sports’ Renaud Lavoie.
Lavoie also reports that the deal carries a value of $575,000 at the NHL level, the league minimum.
The 6-foot-2, 210-pound Cracknell spent last season in the Columbus Blue Jackets organization, playing 17 games, over which he scored a single assist and two penalty minutes. Prior to his single year with the Jackets, he spent four season grabbing games with the St. Louis Blues for a total of 82 games over his five-year NHL career.
That transition between organizations was actually a little more complicated than it appears. The Los Angeles Kings signed Cracknell to a one-year deal in July of 2014, but they eventually waived him right before the start of the season. The Blue Jackets claimed him off waivers from the Kings on October 7 and kept him with the team until January when they assigned him to the Springfield Falcons of the AHL. In late February the Blues traded “future considerations” for Cracknell and brought him back to the organization. He didn’t play any games with the Blues and the team decided not to re-sign him at the end of the season.
Cracknell offers the Canucks some veteran organizational depth, which will have more value with the Utica Comets than in Vancouver, but he’s there if they need him. Which they may, since it’s not entirely clear what the Canucks are doing this season. They appear to be treading water without noticing that the current is carrying them toward a waterfall.
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