Brendan Lemieux, You Are The Next Contestant On “Don’t Be TDA!”
By Chris Baker
![Mar 5, 2023; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Flyers left wing Brendan Lemieux (22) battles with ]Detroit Red Wings defenseman Moritz Seider (53) during the second period at Wells Fargo Center. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_fill,w_1080,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/shape%2Fcover%2Fsport%2Fc6a6396306f49f1017bd10be2ff8cfeb1e3ba601349f40da7bb07fdda5e26c0a.jpg "Mar 5, 2023; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Flyers left wing Brendan Lemieux (22) battles with ]Detroit Red Wings defenseman Moritz Seider (53) during the second period at Wells Fargo Center. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports")
Well, perhaps Brendan Lemieux is going to cure Carolina’s “tough problem?” He certainly has the reputation of one who is accustomed to fisticuffs and at $800k he is cheap enough to buy two. Perhaps the Canes decided to bring in someone to protect Teuvo Teräväinen on a fourth line.
It certainly cannot hurt the Hurricanes to pick up someone to bring a little fear into the minds of opposing teams, and for that cheap.
Plus maybe…just maybe… Lemieux will squelch the need to bring in an even bigger nuisance/ enforcer like Tony DeAngelo.
His numbers are close enough to DeAngelo’s although Lemieux has less NHL experience. If you look at them in the right light, the wind is blowing right, and you blur your eyes just right.
In 340 NHL games, TDA has 199 points, is a -16, with 305 career minutes in time out. Brendan Lemieux sports 484 NHL penalty minutes, 69 points, is -10 with 275 games.
At his absolute best, at least in goal scoring, DeAngelo has 15 in a single season. With the Barrie Colts of the OHL, Lemieux notched 41, while simultaneously sitting out 145 minutes for various and sundry violations of the game.
I am suspicious that Lemieux has not produced nearly as much offense as DeAngelo although Lemieux’s job could be feeding Teräväinen the puck consistently. We all know, however, his primary job will be keeping the likes of Brady Tkachuk away from Turbo and getting out of the way while Teräväinen does Teräväinen things.
And in regards to Tkachuk, I am willing to give Lemieux the benefit of the doubt when it comes to Brady Tkachuk at the end of the day. If I have learned anything about Tkachuk, it’s that he is typically just as guilty when it comes to being annoying.
When we lay our heads down tonight to dream the wonderful dreams we dream, we should remember. One year at $800 is not bad. It’s a cheap move to bring in someone to throw hands when hands need throwing. And if Brendan Lemieux has been picked as the next contestant on Carolina’s fastest growing game show, “Don’t be TDA”, is a good thing, then I am here for it. At least we won’t have to hear DeAngelo’s political nonsense