Penguins Make Minor League Trade with Chicago Blackhawks

The Pittsburgh Penguins and Chicago hooked up on another trade, thought his one involved a pair of minor leaguers.

Wednesday afternoon, the Penguins exchanged WBS Penguins forward Joe Cramarossa for Chicago 2015 second-round pick Garret Knott, who spent most of this season with the ECHL Indy Fuel. Knott has nine points (5g, 4a) in 13 games.

Knott, 22, is in the final year of his three-year entry-level deal which pays him just over $935,000 at the NHL level.

Cramarossa, 27, has 59 games of NHL experience but hasn’t been in the NHL since 10 games with the Vancouver Canucks in 2016-17. Cramarossa will reportedly fill Kris Versteeg’s role with the Chicago AHL franchise. This season, Cramarossa has three points (2g, 1a) in nine games.

More from the Penguins Trade Release:

The Pittsburgh Penguins have acquired forward Graham Knott from the Chicago Blackhawks in exchange for Joseph Cramarossa, it was announced today by executive vice president and general manager Jim Rutherford.

Knott is on the final year of his three-year entry-level deal with Chicago after being selected by Blackhawks in the second round (54^th overall) of the 2015 NHL draft. His deal carries an average annual value of $935,833.

The forward will be assigned to the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins of the American Hockey League.

Knott, a 22-year-old Etobicoke, Ontario native, has tallied 22 points (8G-14A) in 126 games with the Rockford IceHogs at the AHL level.

This season, the 6-foot-3, 199-pound Knott has played 13 games for the Indy Fuel of the ECHL, recording nine points (5G-4A).

Prior to turning pro, Knott had success at the junior level where he played 250 games in the Ontario Hockey League with the Niagara IceDogs and Windsor Spitfires. Knott accumulated 159 points (60G-99A) in the OHL. In 2014-15, Knott was named to the CHL Top Prospects Game and in 2016-17 was a part of the Memorial Cup-winning Windsor squad.

At the international level, Knott competed in the 2014-15 under-18 World Junior Championships with Canada, winning a bronze medal and having the best face-off percentage (73.08%) in the tournament.