Hurricanes re-sign veteran winger

The Hurricanes announced Monday that they’ve re-signed left wing Brendan Lemieux to a one-year contract for the 2024-25 season. Lemieux will earn the league minimum $775K salary next season, per the team.

Lemieux, 27, gets some stability after suiting up for three teams since the beginning of the 2022-23 campaign. Initially a second-round pick of the Sabres in 2014, his signing rights were dealt to the Jets less than a year later as part of that year’s Evander Kane/Tyler Myers blockbuster trade. He signed his entry-level contract the following summer. Lemieux then jumped around the league, providing some sandpaper in a bottom-six role, also suiting up for the Rangers, Kings, and Flyers before heading to Carolina in free agency last summer.

Before signing with the Canes, Lemieux had scored 33 goals and 69 points across 275 career appearances with 484 PIMs. Often a willing combatant in fights, Lemieux’s ability to provide offense has diminished since his career-high nine goals and 18 points in 59 games with the Rangers in 2019-20. His possession metrics don’t paint him as a reliable defensive talent, either, posting a career 47.4 CF percentage and 48.0 xGF percentage in relatively even offensive/defensive zone usage. As such, he’s slipped out of a regular role in the lineup on a deep Hurricanes offense this year, recording two goals and an assist in 25 games while averaging a career-low 7:46.

The Canadian national was waived shortly before the trade deadline to give Carolina GM Don Waddell some roster flexibility. However, another team didn’t claim him and he was never assigned to the minors.

The 6-foot-1, 213-pound Canadian national was a pending UFA. The extension marks a $25K pay cut from this season’s $800K salary, but it remains a one-way deal.