Brendan Lemieux To Switzerland?

The Carolina Hurricanes placed left winger Brendan Lemieux on unconditional waivers on Friday for the purpose of terminating his contract. If he clears, according to Instagram account Puck Empire and reported by SwissHockeyNews.ch, Lemieux’s plan is to sign with HC Davos of Switzerland’s National League.

SwissHockeyNews.ch also reports that Lemieux has recently begun following HC Davos’ Instagram account.

Davos, the longtime host of the annual Spengler Cup tournament in late December, has long been a popular destination for former or current NHL players searching for either a temporary or long-term European home. Canadians Rick Nash, Joe Thornton and Alexandre Daigle all played there for a time, as did Swede Jonas Höglund, Finn Janne Niinimaa and Czechs Radek Dvořák and Petr Sýkora.

Lemieux, 28, has played over 300 NHL games and had five points in 32 games last season for the Carolina Hurricanes, but has spent all of this season with the AHL’s Chicago Wolves.

The son of long-time NHLer Claude Lemieux, Brendan was born in Denver, Col. in 1996 while his father played for the Colorado Avalanche. Brendan played junior hockey for the OHL’s Barrie Colts and Windsor Spitfires and was selected by the Buffalo Sabres in the second round, 31st overall in the 2014 NHL entry Draft.

Lemieux has recorded 74 points and 548 penalty minutes in 307 NHL regular-season games with the Winnipeg Jets, New York Rangers, Los Angeles Kings, Philadelphia Flyers and Hurricanes. He played one playoff game for the Rangers in the 2020 Toronto bubble and seven more for Los Angeles in 2022, where he scored one goal and had 18 penalty minutes.

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In 2021, while playing for Los Angeles, Lemieux was assessed a match penalty and later received a five-game suspension for biting the finger of the Ottawa Senators’ Brady Tkachuk during a fight.

A dual citizen of Canada and the USA, Lemieux’s only international experience thus far has been playing for Canada at the 2013 Hlinka Memorial summer U-18 tournament.

Davos currently leads the National League standings with 55 points in 27 games. The team’s current roster includes 41-year-old legend Andres Ambühl, ex-NHLers Joakim Nordström, Filip Zadina, Klas Dahlbeck and Julius Honka, and 19-year-old New York Rangers prospect Rico Gredig, who is on Switzerland’s training camp roster for the upcoming IIHF World Junior Championship.