For a Rhode Island guy, being traded to the Abbotsford Canucks wouldn’t normally count as a ‘homecoming.’
But the American Hockey League team’s newest defenceman is familiar with the eastern Fraser Valley. Zach Giuttari, acquired Friday from the Hartford Wolf Pack, spent the 2015-16 season in Chilliwack playing for the BCHL’s Chiefs. He was part of a team that made a run to the BCHL before eventually falling to the West Kelowna Warriors.
Following that season, the six-foot-two and 190 pound blueliner went to Brown University for four years and turned pro in 2019-20.
Until today, the Wolf Pack are the only pro team he’s ever played for. But after Abbotsford’s parent organization, the Vancouver Canucks, traded defenceman Wyatt Kalynuk to the New York Rangers, there was an opening on the Abby blueline.
Giuttari was acquired for future considerations.
The 26-year-old has been playing well in Hartford where he had the team’s top plus-minus rating (+11) to go with two goals and 12 points. He’s played in 43 games this season. For his career he has 30 points (six goals) and 34 penalty minutes over 122 AHL games.
Kalynuk leaves Abbotsford after 46 games, sent to the Rangers for future considerations. The 25-year-old Manitoba product had four goals, 17 points and a +5 rating this season.
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