Hurricanes’ Brendan Lemieux, Blue Jackets’ Dylan Gambrell placed on waivers

A couple of players hit the waiver wire on Wednesday, as Carolina Hurricanes forward Brendan Lemieux and Columbus Blue Jackets forward Dylan Gambrell were made available to the rest of the NHL.

Despite both being listed on the main rosters to begin the 2024-25 season, neither Lemieux nor Gambrell has appeared in a game thus far.

Lemieux suffered an undisclosed injury late in the preseason, supposedly during the team’s final game before the regular season, and was unavailable to be in the lineup once the Hurricanes opened the new campaign. After fully recovering, he was placed on waivers.

This is Lemieux’s second season in Carolina. He signed a one-year contract extension last March, which carries a $775,000 cap hit for this season. In 2023-24, he appeared in 32 games, sitting out as a healthy scratch most nights. The Denver native scored three goals and two assists, his lowest single-season point total since he became a full-time NHLer during the 2018-19 season.

In 307 NHL games, Lemieux has scored 36 goals and 38 assists for 74 points, amassing 548 penalty minutes.

Gambrell signed a one-year, two-way contract with the Blue Jackets in July after spending the 2023-24 campaign with the Toronto Maple Leafs organization, but didn’t see any action in the NHL. With the American Hockey League’s Toronto Marlies, he scored 14 goals and 22 assists for 36 points in 66 games.

The Bonney Lake, Washington native’s last bit of NHL action came during the 2022-23 season while as a member of the Ottawa Senators, in which he scored four goals and six assists for 10 points in 60 games.

In 233 NHL games across seven seasons, Gambrell has totaled 17 goals and 23 assists for 40 points. He has scored 37 goals and 94 points in 135 AHL appearances.