Penguins A to Z: Michael Chaput is far from a priority but can meet expectations once again

With the Penguins’ 2021-22 season coming to a quick ending in the first round of the playoffs, the Tribune-Review will offer Penguins A to Z, a player-by-player look at all 54 individuals signed to an NHL contract — including those whose deals do not begin until the 2022-23 season — with the organization, from mid-level prospect Niclas Almari to top-six winger Jason Zucker.

Michael Chaput

Position: Center

Shoots: Left

Age: 30

Height: 6-foot-2

Weight: 199 pounds

2021-22 AHL statistics: 57 games, 33 points (12 goals, 21 assists)

Contract: A one-year, two-way contract with a salary cap hit of $750,000. Pending unrestricted free agent this upcoming offseason.

Acquired: Unrestricted free agent signing, July 29, 2021.

Last season: There were some pretty vivid signs of what kind of player Ron Hextall wanted to add as Penguins general manager well before the 2021 offseason began.

That’s to say he had a preference for those he was familiar with.

His only two in-season additions during the 2020-21 campaign were defenseman Mark Friedman and forward Jeff Carter, each of whom had played for Hextall with the Philadelphia Flyers and Los Angeles Kings, respectively.

Heck, Hextall’s first front office hire was his former right-hand man in Philadelphia, Chris Pryor, as director of player personnel.

So it wasn’t all that surprising that Hextall leaned on Pryor’s own history with at least one unrestricted free agent signing in their first offseason running the Penguins.

Back in 2010, when Pryor was overseeing the Flyers’ draft, they selected Chaput in the third round (No. 89 overall).

Chaput never played for the Flyers, but that connection with Pryor endured over the ensuing 11 years as Chaput made stops with the Columbus Blue Jackets, Vancouver Canucks, Montreal Canadiens and Arizona Coyotes.

To be clear, Chaput wasn’t simply brought in for that connection. The Penguins needed a classic “4-A” type of forward to provide some veteran leadership for a younger roster with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League.

Talented enough to earn the occasional recall to the NHL roster when injuries created an opening, Chaput, who served as an alternate captain with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, was primarily deployed as either the second or third center. He even saw time on both special teams units and was fourth on the squad with five power-play goals.

After an undisclosed injury suffered on Dec. 14 caused him to miss 14 games in late December and for most of January, Chaput did earn a pair of recalls to the NHL roster during the regular season — each during the first week of February — but never appeared in an NHL game.

The season did not end on a high note for Chaput as he suffered an undisclosed injury during the season finale on April 29 and missed all six of Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s postseason games.

The future: Re-signing Chaput is far from a priority for the Penguins this offseason. But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have value.

He’s an ideal fit as a top-nine center for any AHL team. He has enough skill, acumen and experience to be a contributor in a variety of ways at that level, on and off the ice. And considering he has 182 games of NHL experience on his resume, he’s competent enough to step in should an incumbent forward on the NHL roster be unavailable.

No matter who was general manager, the Penguins have long valued having this type of player stationed with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, whether it be forwards such as Tom Kostopoulos and Garrett Wilson or defensemen like David Warsofsky and Kevin Czuczman.

Chaput met expectations, meager as they were, in 2021-22. He could do it again in 2022-23.

Follow the Penguins all season long.