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The Carolina Hurricanes announced today that they’ve signed forward Brendan Lemieux to a one-year contract, worth $800,000.
Lemieux is 27 years old and began this past season with the Los Angeles Kings, before being sent to the Philadelphia Flyers at the trade deadline. Between the teams, the winger managed two goals and nine points in 45 games.
The winger will add some toughness to the Hurricanes’ forward group, bringing a physical, high-intensity game that won't be fun to play against. That said, it’s hard to imagine Lemieux getting regular playing time with Carolina. The Hurricanes already have 12 forwards who are pretty much locked in for regular roles next season, and that’s without even factoring in other possible additions (with the team linked to Vladimir Tarasenko).
Lemieux did have a lot of success on the Kings’ bottom line in the 2021-22 season, playing alongside Blake Lizotte and Arthur Kaliyev. That year, he scored eight goals and 13 points in 50 games, and Los Angeles’ fourth line was actually very effective. However, Lemieux’s offensive ceiling isn’t overly high, he’s nothing special defensively, and as a result, he's likely the team's 13th forward right now.
Regardless though, at just $800,000 he provides depth and an element to his game that’s unique from a lot of other forwards.
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In other news, the Hurricanes surprisingly haven’t announced the Tony DeAngelo deal yet, which seemed likely to be finalized a few days ago (a year since the defender was initially traded to the Philadelphia Flyers).
However, Elliotte Friedman reported the Hurricanes are one of two teams very much in on Erik Karlsson, with the other being the Pittsburgh Penguins. As a result, it’s not a stretch to think the DeAngelo deal could be held up while the Hurricanes pursue Karlsson.
Personally, I’d rather the Hurricanes steer clear of Karlsson. They’ll have to give up assets and while Karlsson is coming off a phenomenal year, there’s zero guarantee he repeats that success. I’d also argue that what really works about the Hurricanes’ defense group is that it’s based around very reliable defenders, in Jaccob Slavin, Brett Pesce, Brady Skjei, and now even Jalen Chatfield. It’s this core that allows offensive defensemen to thrive, given they can be sheltered well amongst other teammates.
While neither DeAngelo or Karlsson are great in their own end, DeAngelo would be expected to take on a much smaller role, at a cheap price for a single year. The Hurricanes weren’t expected to give up much in a trade, either.
With Karlsson, they’ll have him on the books for four years and would be paying much more too, both in terms of cap hit and assets in a trade. The acquisition would likely seal Brett Pesce’s fate as well, in terms of pushing him out of Carolina.
So we’ll see how it plays out, but by all reports, it seems like we can still expect some sort of addition to the blue line.
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OTHER ARTICLES FROM JULY
- Canes add Dmitry Orlov and Michael Bunting, sign Andersen, Fast and Raanta
- How will Michael Bunting fit with the Hurricanes? 
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