A need to get minor-league winger Steve Pinizzotto back playing for the Chicago Wolves effectively cost the Canucks Aaron Volpatti.

Volpatti, who was put on waivers by the Canucks on Wednesday, was lost to Washington on Thursday when the Capitals put in a claim for the hard-hitting fourth liner from Revelstoke.

Putting Volpatti on waivers opened up a roster spot for the Canucks — which is what was necessary to get Pinizzotto playing again, either in Chicago or in Vancouver — after he had suffered a groin injury playing for the Wolves on Nov. 24.

Pinizzotto — who was playing on an AHL contract separate from the two-way deal ($600,000/$275,000) he signed with the Canucks last July — needed to “re-enter” the NHL after his injury spanned the Bermuda Triangle of the lockout, the transition period and then the startup into the truncated 2013 season. You could say his situation was complicated.

Canucks assistant GM Lorne Henning confirmed Thursday that Pinizzotto has been activated in the available roster spot in Vancouver and has been sent to the Chicago Wolves on a two-week conditioning assignment — where he could get in as many as seven games.

Henning said the intention is to give Pinizzotto, 28, a chance to play his first NHL game.

The 6-foot-1, 200-pound agitator showed a mix of skill and toughness in his brief preseason appearances in 2011 before a dislocated shoulder cost him the entire season.

“He showed us some things [in 2011],” said Henning. “We’re going to see what he can do.”

Pinizzotto would require waivers if the Canucks opt to keep him in Chicago beyond the two-week period.

jjamieson@theprovince.com