Minnesota has acquired veteran forward Brad Winchester from Chicago in exchange for d-man Brian Connelly, the club announced on Wednesday.
Winchester, 32, has spent all of this year with Chicago’s AHL affiliate in Rockford, where he’s put up good numbers -- 16 goals, 30 points in 55 games -- while Connelly has spent the entire season with Minny’s AHL affiliate in Iowa, emerging as a decent offensive defenseman (32 points in 50 games).
Of the two, Winchester is the more established professional. The 6-foot-5, 230 pound winger was the 35th overall pick in the 2000 NHL Entry Draft and has almost 400 games of NHL experience, scoring a career-high 13 goals with St. Louis in 2008-09.
Winchester’s last NHL action came during the 2011-12 campaign, when he scored 10 points in 67 games for San Jose.