Brendan Lemieux — Are We Missing Something?
The Canes signed the former King and Flyer this offseason, but is he a depth body or could there be something more? And, even if there is, is he worth it?
Much has been made of the Carolina Hurricanes offseason moves, from the re-signing of last year’s goaltending tandum of Frederik Andersen and Antii Raanta to the arrivals of Dmitry Orlov and Michael Bunting to the rumored acquisitions of players like 2023 Norris Trophy winner Erik Karlsson, Vladimir Tarasenko, and Tony DeAngelo. While awaiting word on any of those three players (whose acquisitions seem to all be related in some way), the Canes did make an acquisition, signing unrestricted free agent winger Brendan Lemieux to a one-year, $800,000 contract. A one-year deal for a depth forward would normally pass by relatively unnoticed, but Lemieux has a reputation around the league — both for actions on the ice and off — that have called the need for a player like Lemieux in the organization.
Originally drafted 31st overall in 2014 by Buffalo, Lemieux is a six year NHL veteran and has played for Winnipeg, the New York Rangers, Los Angeles, and Philadelphia, making the Hurricanes his sixth NHL organization. In 45 games this past season with Los Angeles and Philadelphia, Lemieux had two goals and seven assists to go along with 74 penalty minutes, 131 credited hits, and — most importantly to some hockey fans — six fights (Yanni Gourde, Jujhar Kharia, Trent Frederic, Klim Kostin, Tanner Jeannot, and Radko Gudas if you’re keeping score at home.) Lemieux’s six fights outnumber the total number of fights the Hurricanes were in this past regular season (5). If you don’t think the hit and fight statistics are what’s potentially appealing to the Canes organization, when Canes reporter Walt Ruff tweeted about the signing, that was what he mentioned.
That said, it has to be assumed that the team has more in mind for Lemieux than just fighting — this isn’t 1987. So, what else can a player like Lemieux bring to the Canes? Lemieux’s playing style is generously described as a “pest”, meant to frustrate players and make them take bad penalties, and sure enough — Lemieux draws penalties. This season, Sebastian Aho drew an average of 1.27 penalties per 60 minutes played, which was the second-best mark for the team during the Brind’Amour playoff era (Warren Foegele drew an amazing 2.00 penalties per 60 during his first full season — a number he hasn’t seen since.) Lemieux in his career draws an average of 2.63 penalties per 60 — more than twice Aho’s number. Even last season — arguably the worst of Lemieux’s career — he drew 1.7 per 60.
There’s a flipside of this, though. While Lemieux draws penalties at an extreme rate, he’s committing them at an extreme rate as well, like “Paul Heyman in 1995” extreme. Lemieux has drawn 114 penalties in his career, but taken 106, meaning for all the perceived benefit of this pest causing opposing players to lose their cool and get penalized for it, Lemieux is just wiping that out either by losing his own cool at times, or by growing a reputation that causes referees across the league to watch Lemieux with a closer eye. The negative trend over the last two seasons seems to have turned from “watching him more closely” to “tired of his crap.”
There’s another possible angle that the Canes could be considering with Lemieux though — the power play. Carolina has seen their power play ranking go from one of the top in the league (8th in 2019–20, 2nd in 2020–21) to a weakness of a Stanley Cup contender (20th last season.) Some of this struggle can be linked to the loss of Vincent Trocheck and Nino Niederreiter to free agency and new acquisitions Max Pacioretty and Ondřej Kaše to injury for all but six games of the season, leaving the team to “discover” Stefan Noesen, a 29-year-old depth forward signed the previous season who exploded for 48 goals in 70 games in the AHL during the 2021–22 season. Noesen, who made the team training camp, found an opportunity with the injury to Kaše on opening night and became a Brind’Amour favorite on the power play with his net front presence, and would tie for the team lead in power play goals with seven.
Could Brind’Amour and his staff potentially see Lemieux as another Noesen-type player to have available “just in case?” Despite Noesen’s role on the power play, Brind’Amour’s overall trust in Noesen didn’t seem strong — Noesen’s 9:36 average 5-on-5 ice time was the second lowest on the Canes for any player who played at least 5 games (only Derek Stepan’s 8:21 was lower.) Parking Lemieux on the 4th line and on the 2nd power play wouldn’t be unthinkable role usage, as that’s essentially what role Noesen will play this season (assuming Noesen slides down to the second power play with new acquisition Michael Bunting parking himself in front of the net on the first power play line.) Lemieux has had power play experience at the NHL level before, registering limited minutes for the Rangers during his time there, though Los Angeles and Philadelphia did not try him there. This isn’t to say that Lemieux would necessarily threaten to take Noesen’s place, but in case of injury, he may be considered as an option.
That being said, some of Lemieux’s actions on and off the ice have drawn questions whether he is deserving of a roster spot on the Hurricanes. Lemieux, despite only having been in the league for 275 games, has already been suspended three times. His first suspension came only 18 games into his NHL career when he was suspended two games for a check to the head of Florida’s Vincent Trocheck. The following season, his first with New York, he was suspended for two playoff games after a late hit to Colorado’s Joonas Donskoi, then two seasons later with Los Angeles, he received his longest suspension, this time for five games, for biting Ottawa’s Brady Tkachuk. There’s a line between being a “pest” and just being flat-out “dirty”, and Lemieux has lost track of that line at times during his career. While the argument of having a “tough player” deterring dirty play can be made, the opposite is also true, that dirty play can initiate dirty plays from the other team. If Lemieux is taking liberties with opposing team players, he could potentially be putting Canes still players at risk.
Lemieux’s political views are enough to make some take pause as well. Lemieux’s political views probably first gained mainstream attention during his time in New York when he and then-teammate Tony DeAngelo announced that the two would be launching a podcast that would “push the ‘Politically Correct’ boundaries that surround current NHL players.” While right wing-leaning views aren’t unexpected from hockey players (and likely outnumber left-leaning players in the league), a quick look at Lemieux’s Twitter account “likes” shows transphobic tweets by Elon Musk, anti-vaccine tweets by Joe Rogan, denials of COVID validity, tweets of support for Andrew Tate, an internet celebrity who promotes the ideas of an “ultra-masculine lifestyle” who is currently being held in Romania on charges of rape, human trafficking, and forming an organized crime group to sexually exploit women. Lemieux also follows Tate’s Twitter account.
Even after going over any potential upside to the signing of Brendan Lemieux, it’s difficult to see the benefit of Lemieux’s signing. The Hurricanes, who already took a PR hit with their fanbase with the signing of Tony DeAngelo in 2021, chose to acquire someone with similar concerns to that portion of the Canes fanbase, except without the upside of DeAngelo’s scoring ability. With 4th line/AHL tweeter “sandpaper” guys being a dime a dozen and readily available in free agency (or even within your own organization, hello Jamieson Rees), why would you sign someone that isn’t liked by a majority of the league, including former teammates?
However, if you’re a fan of conspiracies (as Lemieux is, apparently), consider this. Brendan Lemieux is represented by his agent, Claude Lemieux, who is also his father. Claude is also the agent for several other NHL players, including goaltender Frederik Andersen. Andersen, one of the top unrestricted free agent goaltenders on the market, re-signed with Carolina for two years, $3.4 million AAV, a $1.1 million pay cut over his previous contract, and a lower AAV than fellow UFA goaltenders Tristan Jarry, Adin Hill, and Joonas Korpisalo. Could the elder Lemieux have offered a sweetheart deal on Andersen in exchange for a guaranteed one-year deal with his son?
Nah, that’d just be crazy.
