Defenseman Alexandre Carrier won’t be hitting the open market on Monday after all. Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic reports (Twitter link) that the two sides are close to finalizing a new contract. Terms of the potential agreement have not been disclosed.
After a rough 2022-23 showing, the 27-year-old had a nice bounce-back effort this past season. Carrier played in 73 games, scoring a career-best four goals while adding 16 assists and a career-high 137 blocked shots while logging a little under 19 minutes a night. He was one of their most-used penalty killers, averaging more than two minutes a night shorthanded. He added a goal and two assists with 19 blocks in six playoff contests where his ATOI jumped to over 21 minutes per game.
For his career, Carrier has played in 217 NHL games, all with Nashville who drafted him in the fourth round (115th overall) back in 2015. He has just 10 goals and 52 assists to his name but has become an effective shot blocker and defensive blueliner, even earning a spot on the All-Rookie team back in 2021-22.
Carrier played on a one-year, $2.5MM deal in 2023-24, an agreement that gave him a nice raise based on his play the past couple of years while giving the Preds a chance to walk away if he couldn’t get back to his form from a couple of years ago. Since he was able to rebound nicely, Carrier should be in line for a nice raise and a multi-year pact this time around.