Hurricanes Expected To Place Brendan Lemieux On Unconditional Waivers

12/06/2024 02:02 PM

The Carolina Hurricanes are expected to place forward Brendan Lemieux on unconditional waivers for the purpose of contract termination, per Frank Seravalli of The Daily Faceoff. Lemieux signed a one-year, league-minimum contract in Carolina this summer but has spent the entirety of the early season in the minor leagues. He has just two goals, 30 penalty minutes, and a -4 through 12 AHL games this season. He’s the lowest-scoring forward among Chicago Wolves with 10 or more games this season.

Lemieux made a name for himself as a sharp-edged bruiser with the drive to play at the NHL level. That’s what kept him in the top league from 2017 to 2024 – through trips with the Winnipeg Jets, New York Rangers, Los Angeles Kings, Philadelphia Flyers, and Carolina. He served a fourth-line role at every stop, making more noise with his penalty minutes than his scoring. Lemieux has 548 penalty minutes through 307 career games, with his statement year coming in 2019-20 – when he posted 111 PIMs in 59 games with the Rangers. He’s only added 74 career points – 36 goals and 38 assists – in those outings, with 18 points in 2019-20 also standing as a career-high.

This season marks Lemieux’s second in the Carolina organization, after playing through last year on a separate one-year contract. He earned 32 games on the deal, recording five points and 64 penalty minutes. That wasn’t enough to stick in the Hurricanes’ lineup with the emergence of top youngsters Jack Drury and Jackson Blake, pushing Lemieux to the minor leagues this season – his first time playing AHL hockey since 2017-18. With both scoring and meaningful penalties hard to come by this year, Lemieux will now look forward to more productive minutes in his next landing spot.