The Carolina Hurricanes signed defenceman Pierre-Olivier Joseph to a one-year contract Tuesday, a depth addition by the reigning Stanley Cup champions that also puts a second Joseph brother on a one-year deal for the 2026-27 season.
The Hurricanes said in a release that the contract will pay Joseph $850,000 US for the coming season. General manager Eric Tulsky announced the signing.
Joseph, 27, spent last season with the Vancouver Canucks, where he recorded six points (one goal, five assists) in 31 games, according to the Carolina release. Daily Faceoff reported that he averaged just over 13 minutes of ice time a night, missed time on injured reserve with a groin injury in October and was a frequent healthy scratch.
The six-foot-two, 185-pound blueliner has 46 points (nine goals, 37 assists) in 225 career NHL games with Pittsburgh, St. Louis and Vancouver, the Hurricanes said. He was originally selected by the Arizona Coyotes in the first round, 23rd overall, at the 2017 draft, and was traded to the Penguins as part of the deal that sent Phil Kessel to Arizona, per Daily Faceoff.
Carolina also listed his junior and minor-league record. Joseph put up 140 points (29 goals, 111 assists) and 205 penalty minutes in 235 QMJHL games with the Charlottetown Islanders, and 64 points (14 goals, 50 assists) in 138 American Hockey League games with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton between 2019 and 2023. He won a gold medal with Canada at the 2023 IIHF world championship.
The Edmonton connection is a family one. Joseph is the brother of Oilers forward Mathieu Joseph, as Daily Faceoff noted. Both are from Laval, Que., and both signed one-year contracts this summer, on separate ends of the continent and for teams that will meet in October.
Edmonton announced Mathieu Joseph’s deal on July 2, a one-year contract with an average annual value of $1 million. The club said Joseph, 29, divided the 2025-26 season between the St. Louis Blues, where he had two goals and nine assists in 39 games, and the Los Angeles Kings, where he went scoreless in 12 games before adding two playoff appearances. A fourth-round pick of the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2015, 120th overall, he has 61 goals and 99 assists in 471 games over eight NHL seasons, according to the Oilers.
The brothers’ clubs are scheduled to meet at Rogers Place on Oct. 22. In announcing the full 2026-27 schedule on July 16, the Oilers described that date as welcoming the Stanley Cup champion Hurricanes during Edmonton’s first extended homestand of the season. The same release noted the league is playing an expanded 84-game regular season, its first since 2003-04.
Several things remain unstated. Neither club has said whether Pierre-Olivier Joseph is expected to open the season on Carolina’s NHL roster, and the Hurricanes’ release did not specify whether the contract is one-way or two-way. No term beyond the single season was announced.
Edmonton opens its season Sept. 29 at home against the Vancouver Canucks, the first half of a home-and-home that continues Oct. 1. The Oilers said Tuesday that Fan Day returns to Rogers Place and Ice District on Sept. 19.
Photo credit: Jenn G, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons. The image is a file photograph from a Feb. 29, 2024, game in Seattle and does not depict the signing reported here.
