Chicago Blackhawks trade Nicolas Beaudin for Cameron Hillis

The Chicago Blackhawks on Wednesday traded defenseman Nicolas Beaudin to the Montreal Canadiens for forward Cameron Hillis.

Meanwhile, the Hawks shipped forward Evan Barratt to the the Philadelphia Flyers for defenseman Cooper Zech.

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Zech, 23, had a goal and 10 assists in 53 games for the AHL Lehigh Valley Phantoms.

Hillis, who’s 5-foot-9 and 174 pounds, split last season between Montreal, the AHL Laval Rocket and East Coast Hockey League Trois-Rivières Lions, where he had two goals in three games this season.

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Last season the 22-year-old Oshawa, Ontario, native had five goals and four assists in 24 games for Laval, and three goals and six assists in 14 games for Trois-Rivières.

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He was a 2018 third-round pick for Montreal.

Beaudin was the Hawks’ first-round pick in the same draft, selected 27th overall, in what had once been a promising trajectory but had stalled since last season.

Beaudin had two goals and four assists in 19 games in 2020-21, but appeared in just two games last season and didn’t register a point, averaging just 6 minutes of ice time.

Hillis will report to the Rockford IceHogs.

Beaudin also didn’t stand out in camp as other young blue liners such as Alex Vlasic, Filip Roos and Alec Regula surpassed him in the hierarchy.

Beaudin had an assist in three games for Rockford.

Barratt, a Hawks 2017 third-round draft pick, had entered his third season with Rockford. He was invited to camp this summer but never broke through to Chicago. He had 14 goals and 14 assist in 63 games last season with the IceHogs.