Canucks and Blackhawks make a trade after the NHL draft.

The Vancouver Canucks and Chicago Blackhawks have struck a deal coming off the heels of today's National Hockey League Entry Draft, with a relatively minor trade deal that has the Canucks walking away as the clear winners of this one.

In an official press release, Canucks general manager Patrik Allvin announced that the Canucks had acquired forward Ilya Safonov from the Blackhawks in exchange for future considerations. Future considerations could mean a very low end type of draft pick down the line, but often times it can also mean that there will be no return at all.

Safonov is a 24 year old centerman playing in the Kontinental Hockey League where he has spent the last several seasons with Kazan Ak-Bars of that league. Safonov is coming off of a 51 game season in which he recorded 7 goals and 15 assists for a total of 22 points in 51 games.

His best campaign came 2 years ago when he had a very strong season with 19 goals and 18 assists for 37 points in 64 games with Ak-Bars, but he has failed to reproduce those heights over the last two seasons.

There was a time that the Blackhawks believed Safonov had potential, selecting him in the sixth round (172nd overall) of the 2021 NHL Entry Draft, but the Russian forward has never left the KHL as far as his professional hockey career is concerned.

The Canucks could use depth at the center position but it is unclear if they view Safonov as a player capable of filling that role at the NHL level.