Carolina Hurricanes Surprisingly Place Former First-Round Pick on Waivers
The Carolina Hurricanes have caused a surprise by placing a former first-round pick who is set to become a restricted free agent next summer on waivers.
With teams planning their strategies ahead of the upcoming trade deadline, we can expect organizations looking to have playoff success to start making moves.
The derby to clinch a playoff spot is especially fierce this season. It's hard to predict who'll make it and who won't, but some teams are already a shoo-in, like the Carolina Hurricanes.
Sometimes, in order to make big changes, management must move some pieces of their roster around in smaller changes, and that's exactly what the Carolina Hurricanes did by placing Ty Smith on waivers.
The 24-year-old defenseman who was drafted 17th overall by the New Jersey Devils in 2018 made the trip between the NHL and the AHL a few times already this season, and he's now going back to the Chicago Wolves after a month-long stint with the Hurricanes.
Early in his career, he impressed many people, notably making the all-star rookie team in 2020-21 amid a 23-point tally in 48 games.
Despite his young age, Smith played in three different NHL teams. He spent a few years in New Jersey after his draft, then joined the Pittsburgh Penguins before being traded to the Carolina Hurricanes in the Jake Guentzel trade.
He signed a one-year, $775k contract with the Canes last summer. Since then, he took part in 13 AHL games with the Wolves and eight with the Canes in the NHL.
He has three goals and seven assists in the AHL as well as one goal and one assist in the NHL.
It'll be interesting to see if a team looking for offensive potential at the blue line will try to claim him in the next 24 hours.
