The Carolina Hurricanes have signed forward Brendan Lemieux to a one-year contract, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported Tuesday morning.
Lemieux, 27, collected two goals and nine points in 45 games split between the Los Angeles Kings and Philadelphia Flyers during the 2022–23 regular season. He also racked up 74 penalty minutes.
At the 2023 trade deadline, the Kings traded the six-foot-one, 215-pound left wing to the Flyers along with a 2024 fifth-round pick in exchange for similar checking forward Zack MacEwen. Lemieux collected six points (two goals, four assists) in 18 games with the Flyers to close out the season.
According to Friedman, Lemieux’s new contract with the Hurricanes carries an $800,000 NHL cap hit.
The Buffalo Sabres originally selected Lemieux in the second round (No. 31 overall) of the 2014 NHL Draft. The Denver, Colorado product — whose father is longtime NHL agitator Claude Lemieux — never played for the Sabres before being traded to the Winnipeg Jets as part of the blockbuster Evander Kane/Tyler Myers swap.
Lemieux debuted with the Jets in the 2017–18 season but was sent to the New York Rangers the following year as part of Winnipeg’s deadline deal to bring in forward Kevin Hayes.
It was on Broadway where Lemieux firmly established himself as an NHL regular, skating in 59 games and setting career highs in points (18) and penalty minutes (111) in the 2019–20 season. He also made his Stanley Cup Playoff debut that year.
Midway through the 2020–21 season, the Rangers traded Lemieux to the Kings in exchange for a 2021 fourth-round draft pick. He spent parts of three seasons in L.A. before being sent to the Flyers earlier this year.
Through 275 career games over six NHL seasons split between the Jets, Rangers, Kings, and Flyers, Lemieux has collected 33 goals, 69 points and 484 penalty minutes (while also being included in four mid-season trades). He’s added one goal in eight Stanley Cup Playoff contests.
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