Former Penguins defenseman Josef Melichar has signed a one-year contract worth $1 million to play for Carolina.

Hurricanes general manager Jim Rutherford described Melichar as "a big, strong, experienced defensive defenseman who will be a shut-down player for us."

Melichar, 29, played 310 games for the Penguins between 2000-01 and 2006-07 before spending most of the past season with Linkoping HC in Sweden's Elitserien.