The Carolina Hurricanes have signed forward Tyson Jost to a one-way, league-minimum contract worth $775K, per TSN’s Darren Dreger (Twitter link).
It was a rough year for the 26-year-old, to put it lightly. After agreeing to a one-year, $2MM contract to remain with Buffalo despite being non-tendered, Jost wound up having a very limited role and even struggled with it. He played in 43 games, scoring three goals and three assists in a little over 10 minutes per game before eventually clearing waivers in late December. Jost was more productive during his time in the minors, notching four goals and 10 assists in 25 games with AHL Rochester but it was clear the two sides would be parting ways this summer.
Despite his struggles, Jost comes to Carolina with a fairly extensive NHL track record, spanning 456 games where he has 57 goals and 83 assists. With that in mind, this is a reasonable low-cost flyer for the Hurricanes to take. If he’s able to lock down a full-time spot on the roster at the minimum salary, that will help free up some money to spend on their restricted free agents, headlined by Seth Jarvis and Martin Necas. If he doesn’t make the team, he can be stashed in the minors (pending waiver clearance) where he’d likely be one of the first recall options in the event of an injury.