Canucks General Manager Jim Benning made a minor trade on Thursday evening in an effort to improve depth on the blue line by acquiring 22-year-old defenceman Adam Clendening from the Chicago Blackhawks in exchange for Swedish defensive prospect Gustav Forsling.
Clendening, a 5'11" 190-pound native of Niagara Falls, New York is a former 2011 second-round selection of the Blackhawks. He has played the majority of the 2014-15 season with the AHL's Rockford Ice Hogs where he's managed 13 points (1-12-13) in 38 games. In four games with the Blackhawks this season he's recorded two points (1-1-2).
The Canucks part ways with Forsling who was a fifth-round selection in the 2014 draft. The 18-year-old who plays in the Swedish Elite League impressed many with a good showing for Team Sweden at the World Junior Hockey Championship over the holidays.
The Canucks feel they needed to strengthen their NHL-ready depth on defence with the recent loss of veteran Kevin Bieksa for six-to-eight weeks after he required surgery on his broken left hand.