Hurricanes Bring In Toughness In Later Free Agent Signing

The Carolina Hurricanes just keep adding players this offseason as they have now brought in someone to play a physical game and protect their better players. The team signed Brendan Lemieux to a one-year, $800,000 deal, per Elliotte Freidman.

Hearing Carolina will be signing Brendan Lemieux to one year and $800K
— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) July 11, 2023

With the Hurricanes one of the last remaining teams in on Erik Karlsson as well, they might be expecting to have to give up a young forward or other players up front that clears some cap space, so Lemieux could be an insurance signing for one year.

The 27-year-old has played parts of six seasons in the NHL and in 275 games has 33 goals, 69 points, 484 penalty minutes, and 667 hits. He should be expected to make the team out of training camp as the 13th/14th forward, but not get into a ton of games. He played a total of 45 games last season split between the Los Angeles Kings and Philadelphia Flyers. The most he's played in a season is 63.

As the Hurricanes have a great lineup, but no depth with NHL experience outside of the NHL to fill in when someone gets injured, Lemieux is a solid signing.