Free agent Sam Carrick signs three-year contract with New York Rangers

Sam Carrick has a new home.

According to David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period, the rugged centre has agreed to a three-year contract with the New York Rangers worth $1 million annually.

The Oilers acquired Carrick along with Adam Henrique in a deal with the Anaheim Ducks before last season’s trade deadline. He scored two goals and five points in 16 regular season games for the Oilers and picked up one assist over 10 playoff games. Carrick also posted a 63.1 faceoff percentage in Edmonton and dropped the gloves a couple of times.

Selected by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the fifth round of the 2010 NHL Draft, Carrick played in 19 games with his hometown club over four seasons before being non-tendered as a restricted free agent. Carrick inked a one-year, two-way contract with the Chicago Blackhawks ahead of the 2016-17 season and was traded to the Anaheim Ducks later that year.

The Ducks re-signed Carrick to a two-year, two-way contract and he spent the majority of those two seasons playing with Anaheim’s American Hockey League affiliate, the San Diego Gulls. Just before the start of the 2018-19 season, Carrick was named captain of the Gulls.

When the Ducks promoted head coach Dallas Eakins from the AHL to the NHL for the 2019-20 season, Carrick started to see more playing time with the big-league club. He broke out as a full-time NHLer in 2021-22 with 11 goals and 19 points over 64 games with the Ducks and earned a two-year, one-way contract the following off-season.

Carrick suffered a hip injury during training camp ahead of the 2022-23 season and scored only three goals and seven points over 52 games. He bounced back in 2023-24 with eight goals and 11 points in 61 games for the Ducks before getting traded to the Oilers. All told, Carrick scored 25 goals and 46 points in 205 games over parts of six seasons in Anaheim.

Given the Oilers have veteran pivot Derek Ryan under contract for one more season at an inexpensive $900k salary cap hit, it isn’t surprising that the team opted to let Carrick walk as a free agent this summer. James Hamblin, Jayden Grubbe, Noah Philp, and Lane Pederson are other depth options the Oilers have for the fourth-line centre spot next season.