With the trade deadline coming up, some teams will be converting players on AHL deals to NHL ones to make them eligible to play down the stretch. The Hurricanes are the latest to do so as they announced that they’ve signed winger Max Comtois to a one-year, two-way contract. The deal will pay $775K in the NHL and $250K in the minors. GM Don Waddell released the following statement on the signing:
Max is a physical forward with lots of NHL games under his belt. His experience at this level will add to our organizational depth at that position.
The 25-year-old played with Vegas in the preseason but didn’t lock down a spot with them. Instead, he signed with AHL Chicago in mid-October, Carolina’s old farm team. He has fared relatively well down there, notching 12 goals and 16 assists along with 97 penalty minutes in 45 games with the Wolves in his first taste of AHL action since the 2018-19 season.
Comtois has played in 210 career NHL games, all with Anaheim who drafted him 50th overall back in 2017. He had 19 points in 64 games with them last season but was non-tendered as the team elected not to give him a $2.445MM qualifying offer. Now, he’ll look to get an opportunity with Carolina down the stretch in the hopes of securing a full-time NHL agreement for next season. That said, it won’t come right away as TVA Sports’ Renaud Lavoie reports (Twitter link) that Comtois will be on waivers on Tuesday to return to the Wolves for the time being.