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Carolina Hurricanes History: Top 5 Free Agent Busts

By Alex Ohari

SUNRISE, FL - APRIL 2: Alexander Semin #28 of the Carolina Hurricanes skates with the puck against the Florida Panthers at the BB&T Center on April 2, 2015 in Sunrise, Florida. (Photo by Eliot J. Schechter/NHLI via Getty Images)
SUNRISE, FL - APRIL 2: Alexander Semin #28 of the Carolina Hurricanes skates with the puck against the Florida Panthers at the BB&T Center on April 2, 2015 in Sunrise, Florida. (Photo by Eliot J. Schechter/NHLI via Getty Images) /
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#5 Lee Stempniak

In hindsight, Lee Stempniak wasn’t a horrible signing for the Canes, so the fact he’s on this list is a testament to how smart the team has been with FA contract negotiations. That said, Stempniak wasn’t a particularly good signing, either.

After putting together a good season of 5- points split between New Jersey and Boston in 2015-16, former Hurricanes GM Ron Francis reached into the free agent market and gave Stempniak a 2 year deal worth $2.5M annually.

RALEIGH, NC – JANUARY 21: Lee Stempniak #21 of the Carolina Hurricanes skates with the puck along the boards during an NHL game against the Vegas Golden Knights on January 21, 2018 at PNC Arena in Raleigh, North Carolina. (Photo by Gregg Forwerck/NHLI via Getty Images)
RALEIGH, NC – JANUARY 21: Lee Stempniak #21 of the Carolina Hurricanes skates with the puck along the boards during an NHL game against the Vegas Golden Knights on January 21, 2018 at PNC Arena in Raleigh, North Carolina. (Photo by Gregg Forwerck/NHLI via Getty Images) /

At the time, Stempniak was 33 and coming off his best season in nearly a decade. The first year of Stempniak’s contract wasn’t all that bad. He managed to score a respectable 40 points in 82 games for the Hurricanes, playing a lot with Jeff Skinner, but his inconsistency, lack of physicality and inexcusably large role left a sour taste in the mouth of Hurricanes fans.

Fans and hockey media figured Las Vegas would take his contract in the expansion draft, but they opted against it, so Stempniak returned for 2017-18, which was a disaster for him and the team. After missing half the season with an injury, Stempniak returned and was completely ineffective. He scored a putrid 3 goals in 37 games, and his 9 total points was a huge drop from the previous year’s 40.

His ice-time also dropped nearly 4 minutes per game, and, after the season, Stempniak was shown the door along with the regime who signed him. Since then, Stempniak spent the past season with the Boston Bruins farm team, AHL Providence, and even suited up in 2 games for the real Bruins. Now 36, Stempniak looks like he’s reached the end of his storied 911-game NHL career. But he definitely won’t be remembered for his time in Raleigh.

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