Carolina Hurricanes sign defenseman Ty Smith to one-year contract extension
The Carolina Hurricanes have signed defenseman Ty Smith to a one-year, two-way contract extension, the club announced Friday evening.
Smith, 24, spent the entirety of the 2023-24 season with the AHL’s Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, collecting nine goals and 43 points in 63 games.
The Hurricanes originally acquired Smith alongside Jake Guentzel from the Pittsburgh Penguins on March 7, sending Michael Bunting, Vasili Ponomarev, Cruz Lucius, Ville Koivunen, and two picks in the 2024 NHL Draft the other way. Smith remained with the Penguins’ AHL affiliate after the trade.
“Ty is still developing as a player, but he possesses a keen ability to generate offense from the blue line,” Hurricanes general manager Eric Tulsky said in a release on Friday. “Our style of play relies on defensemen to pitch in offensively, and he is an experienced NHL player who can fill that role for our team.”
The #Canes have re-signed defenseman Ty Smith to a one-year, two-way contract ✍️
Details » https://t.co/NkYHApnbwh pic.twitter.com/glPbGSKEux
The New Jersey Devils originally selected Smith in the first round (No. 17 overall) of the 2018 NHL Draft. The Lloydminster, Alberta product spent his entire junior career with the WHL’s Spokane Chiefs before jumping directly into the NHL with the Devils in the 2020-21 season.
In 48 games with the Devils in his rookie year, Smith collected 23 points (two goals, 21 assists). The 5’11” left-handed defender managed five goals and 20 points in 66 games the following season. But in 2022, the Devils traded Smith and a 2023 third-round pick to the Penguins in exchange for defenseman John Marino.
Smith skated in just nine games with the Penguins in the 2022-23 season before being demoted to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, with whom he remained for the rest of his tenure in the Pittsburgh organization. As Carolina did not have an AHL affiliate to call its own during the 2023-24 season, Smith remained with WBS after being acquired by the Hurricanes.
Through 123 career NHL games over parts of three seasons with the Devils and Penguins, Smith has collected eight goals and 47 points. He has yet to play a single game in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Smith had been set to become a restricted free agent on July 1 upon the expiry of his previous one-year, one-way contract. His new deal is worth $775,000 in the NHL but only carries a $200,000 AHL salary; he’s guaranteed to earn at least $275,000 wherever he plays in 2024-25.
With Smith now signed, the Hurricanes have eight RFAs left to deal with this offseason: Seth Jarvis, Martin Necas, Jack Drury, Maxime Comtois, Dylan Coghlan, Blake Murray, Tuukka Tieksola, and Griffin Mendel.