Why Hurricanes goalie Frederik Andersen is having ‘ton of fun’ in NHL playoffs
When goaltender Frederik Andersen plays for the Carolina Hurricanes at Lenovo Center, there are thousands who know his name and let him hear it.
“Fred-die! Fred-die!” is the chant from Canes fans after a sensational stop or big play in net.
It’s a little different when Andersen isn’t in the arena, when he’s out in public in Raleigh. There are sideways glances and double-takes and more than a hint of recognition, he said, and some will approach him, politely, to ask for a selfie or autograph.
“People here are really respectful,” he said.
It wasn’t always that way when he played in Toronto. Maple Leafs fans can either love or loathe their goalie, depending on the game’s result. The scrutiny on the hockey team is constant and can be suffocating in a city where the last Stanley Cup celebration came in 1967.
But Andersen has found a home in Raleigh, another transplant to the area who has come to appreciate the feel of the city and its pace of life. At 35, the Denmark native has helped carry the Hurricanes into the NHL’s Eastern Conference final for the second time in three years in the pursuit of the franchise’s first Stanley Cup since 2006.
Adjusting to Raleigh
Andersen has worked his way through injuries, recovered from surgeries. He has endured the health scare of a blood-clotting issue. In the 2025 playoffs, he has been playing some of the best hockey of his career as the Hurricanes moved past the New Jersey Devils and then the Washington Capitals, both in five-games series.
“It’s a ton of fun this time of year and I’m enjoying it,” Andersen said. “You know my issues the last couple of years with some things that no one wants to have happen to you. You go through it, and it’s a good reminder of how precious this time is.”
Andersen once came to Raleigh only as a member of the visiting team, in and out of town quickly. But his perception of the area, of playing games here, of it becoming a hockey market, is different now.
“It has changed in the last 10 years or so, since the tough times in the 2010’s,” he said. “Since I’ve been here and a little before, it’s been incredible. I don’t think you can compare the arena to any other rink in the league in how loud it gets. And it’s just the passion for a fairly new hockey community over a quarter century now.
“And how the city is growing. I’ve noticed it in my four years here. When you come in here and visit you’re not paying attention if you don’t see how much improvement there’s been and how much buzz there is and how much new stuff there is in the area. It’s exciting to see.”
Keeping his cool
Since taking over as head coach, Rod Brind’Amour has taken the Canes to the playoffs each of his seven years. His first playoff team had fiery Petr Mrazek and stolid Curtis McElhinney as its goaltenders, making it to the Eastern Conference Final in 2019 before losing to the Boston Bruins.
The Canes returned to the conference final in 2023 with Andersen and another fiery type, Pyotr Kochetkov, as the goalies. “Polar opposites,” Brind’Amour calls the twosome.
The Canes lost four straight one-goal games to the Florida Panthers as goalie Sergei Bobrovsky of the Panthers was unshakable and unbeatable. Andersen was not bad. It’s just that Bobrovsky was a shade better in the series.
Andersen, a big man in net at 6 feet, 4 inches and 229 pounds, will enter the conference final this year with some sensational goaltending numbers: a 1.36 goals-against average and .937 save percentage. Andersen missed a game after a run-in in the crease with forward Timo Meier of the Devils, but has started nine of the 10 playoff games.
“It doesn’t get understated because goaltending is so important, but I think it’s the best he’s played since he’s been here,” Brind’Amour said Thursday after the 3-1 win over the Caps in Washington that ended the best-of-seven series.
Andersen faced just 19 shots Thursday, but his saves included a critical stop on a power move by the Caps’ Pierre-Luc Dubois early in the third period with the score tied 1-1.
Andersen has played with aplomb, with an almost unflappable demeanor that can at times, he said, mask the fire inside.
“You’ve never seen me break a stick out here?” he quipped to a reporter this past week after a Canes practice at Invisalign Arena.
Yes, there have been a few stormy times, Andersen was told, causing him to turn introspective for a few minutes and give some insight to what makes “Fredzilla” tick internally as a goaltender.
“You’re teetering on the edge of trying to be a perfectionist while also knowing that perfection is not attainable, in anything,” Andersen said. “So you’re walking a thin line. You also care about your craft.
“My temperament has definitely gotten a lot better since I was a kid, in learning to deal with it. As you mature, you learn how to channel it in a better way for the most part. Obviously, no one is perfect in that, either.”
Fully invested
Andersen, originally drafted by the Hurricanes in 2010, played his first NHL game with the Anaheim Ducks in 2013. After three seasons on the West Coast, and living at the beach, it was on to the Maple Leafs and all that comes with playing the position in Toronto.
Andersen spent five seasons with the Leafs, twice starting 66 games and setting the franchise record for wins in a season with 38 in 2017-18. That season would end in disappointment: a seven-game playoff loss in the first round to the Bruins.
Signing with the Hurricanes as a free agent in 2021, Andersen was selected for the NHL All-Star Game in 2022. He has missed some games with the Canes, but when he’s dialed in and healthy and feeling it …
“He’s a stud and he has been a stud his whole career,” Canes captain Jordan Staal said Thursday. “People always talk about his calmness and he’s a rock.”
Andersen is fully invested in this team and its quest for a Cup, and already has signed a contract extension to return next season.
For now, it’s all about the Eastern Conference Final, about moving a step closer to the ultimate goal, as Brind’Amour often calls winning a Cup.
“Everyone here cares about what we’re doing and we’re trying to do it well,” Andersen said. ”Obviously, my mindset is trusting we have what it takes.”
This story was originally published May 19, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
