The Hurricanes have added some goaltending depth to their system as CapFriendly reports (Twitter link) that they’ve signed Beck Warm to a two-year, entry-level contract. Notably, while future contracts are eligible to be signed now, the contract begins this season and breaks down as follows:
2020-21: $725K NHL salary (including $25K signing bonus), $60K AHL salary
2021-22: $775K NHL salary (including $25K signing bonus), $60K AHL salary
The 21-year-old went undrafted after a four-year WHL career that ended with Edmonton where he had a 2.30 GAA with a .915 SV% in 15 games for the Oil Kings before the pandemic hit. However, he did well enough to earn a one-year AHL contract with the Chicago Wolves of the AHL back in November, a team that Carolina is sharing this season with their affiliate in Charlotte withdrawing from the 2020-21 season due to the pandemic. Warm has played in four games for the Wolves so far, posting a 2.25 GAA along with a .940 SV% and clearly showed the Hurricanes enough to convert him to an NHL deal.
While Warm is probably sixth on the depth chart for this season, there is definitely room for him to move up for 2021-22. As things stand, all five of their other goalies are unsigned for next year; Petr Mrazek, James Reimer, and Antoine Bibeau are all unrestricted free agents while Alex Nedeljkovic and Jeremy Helvig will be restricted free agents. At this point, it’s unlikely that all five will be re-signed so Warm, who was immediately re-assigned to the Wolves, should be in line for more playing time next season but for now, he’ll remain in a three-way timeshare in Chicago.
Carolina is sharing Chicago because Nashville’s affiliate, the Milwaukee Admirals withdrew. Charlotte is Florida’s AHL affiliate.